WINNERS

Strangers By The Sea

  • Photographer
    Connor Duke, Australia
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention

This image is part of an ongoing exploration of belonging and isolation within public space. Seen from above, the beach is filled with families and holiday goers, absorbed in small rituals of leisure and intimacy in the Spanish sea. At the centre of the frame, a solitary girl appears to pause, her position and gaze suggesting she may have noticed the camera. That ambiguity becomes central: while those around her are occupied, swimming, talking, sunbathing, moving, she remains still, suspended between participation and distance, reflecting the loneliness that can exist even within a crowd.