Hall of Fame

"You don't take a photograph, you make it."

— Ansel Adams

Park authorities strictly prohibit staying in Deadvlei after dark, so you have to cheat. Either by breaking rules, manipulating photos, or leaving a camera behind and hoping for the best.

Thankfully, modern night-sky tracking apps allow you to precisely predict where the Milky Way will align over the trees. Even if it's a bit of post-processing magic, it brings a dream vision to life.

This work is named after the cult "Love is..." bubble gums from my childhood — the ones that came with quirky little inserts like "Love is... letting him be the boss - until he makes a mistake." They were funny back then. If only I'd known how real they'd feel later.

Even three years on, I still haven't managed to beat this one. Shot in Špičnik, Slovenia, it's the result of my longest time-blending: from sunset to sunrise, using 55 frames.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. My hotel canceled last minute, and I ended up sleeping in my car nearby.

Sometimes the universe disrupts your plans just to guide you to the right place. This piece went on to win multiple international awards and was exhibited across the globe.

But the real magic started before I even left home.

My wife drew this place for me; from a deck of Symbolon cards. At the time, she was deep into astro-card readings and said, "You'll make something unforgettable there."

So - Love is… trusting her intuition.

"It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to."

— Jean-Luc Godard

Entering iconic, world-famous landscapes often comes with an invisible weight. Standing beneath this ancient stone arch, it’s easy to be haunted by a quiet fear: Will I measure up? Is there anything truly mine here, or am I just a fraud copy, a shadow of someone else's vision?

I don't have definitive answers to these questions, but I always try to do the absolute best with what I know. I push my technical boundaries to the maximum.

In the end, even if I wasn't the first to stand under this arch, I am deeply proud of this image. The location may belong to the world, but the dedication, light, final frame, and most importantly, the memories are mine.

One of the hardest things about shooting from a famous location is figuring out how to make it yours - how to capture it in a way no one else has. It's a real challenge. And I hate being like everyone else. I always chase uniqueness. That's exactly when the experiments begin.

Visiting the Top of the Rock observatory at Rockefeller Center, I knew I wasn't the first. Thousands had been here before me, and dozens stood next to me at that very moment. What could I do? The answer was perspective. Shooting a panorama through a small fence, I found a way to make the skyline look like a crown for the city.

For me, it's always about pushing limits, competing with myself driven by the pursuit of perfection.

The Ramon Crater in Israel's Negev Desert isn't formed by meteorite impact but is a unique "makhtesh" - an erosional landform exclusive to the Negev and Sinai Peninsula. Occasionally, clouds seem to "spill" into its depths, a phenomenon caused by moist air condensing and creating the appearance of clouds flowing into the crater.

This phenomenon is exceptionally rare, occurring only a few times a year. For me, this photograph isn't just an image; it represents the persistence of continually trying until success is achieved. I made the journey to this location at least five times, each trip taking roughly two and a half hours one way, before I finally captured this shot.

This photo was nominated in the "Night Life" category at LifeFramer. Their description captures it best: "A gorgeous landscape that plays with texture and scale, describing the immensity of this natural landscape by the thin, golden thread of road that traces its way across it. As night remains set in in one corner of the frame, day begins to break diagonally opposite – that liminal time between night and day where our environment can often take on a ghostly quality, here emphasized by the clouds that soften the crater’s edge. It’s a very well-constructed scene that transports you to a place and communicates a feeling." – LIFE FRAMER