{"id":11948,"date":"2026-10-15T05:03:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:03:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/15\/this-years-winners-of-aops-emerging-talent-award-are-photographers-to-watch\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T05:03:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T03:03:02","slug":"this-years-winners-of-aops-emerging-talent-award-are-photographers-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brokenmount.com\/bm\/2026\/10\/15\/this-years-winners-of-aops-emerging-talent-award-are-photographers-to-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s winners of AOP\u2019s Emerging Talent Award are photographers to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe series tell the story of a shrinking glacier and refugee children.<\/p>\n

\"AAustin Bradley \/ AOP<\/span><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n
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The Association of Photographers, or AOP, has announced the winners of its 2026 Emerging Talent Award, highlighting up-and-coming photographers who have been working in the field for fewer than three years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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This year\u2019s Gold winner is Austin Bradley, who photographed a highline across S\u00f3lheimaj\u00f6kull Glacier in Iceland, intent on illustrating how much the glacier has been shrinking due to climate change. The Silver award goes to Ritchie Elder, who documented the last day of class at a newly-established Ukrainian Saturday School in Scotland. <\/p>\n

You can see some of that work, and read more of the story behind it, below. If you want to see the work from other finalists, you can find a gallery on AOP\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gold award: 57 Metres : Iceland\u2019s Shrinking Glacier<\/em> by Austin Bradley<\/h2>\n
\"Person<\/a>Austin Bradley \/ AOP<\/span><\/figure>\n

According to AOP\u2019s press release, Bradley\u2019s goal was to visually show how far a specific glacier was retreating every year. \u201cHe rigged a 57-metre highline across S\u00f3lheimaj\u00f6kull Glacier in Iceland, with the length of the line representing approximately how far the glacier retreats each year due to a warming climate. Over several carbon offset days Bradley worked with highliners, a small film crew and a glaciologist, to document the process, which will later be released as a documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Aerial<\/a>Austin Bradley \/ AOP<\/span><\/figure>\n

The shots were taken on a DJI Mini 5 Pro, though there are others in the series that appear to have been taken on a standard camera.<\/p>\n

Silver award: Saturday School<\/em> by Ritchie Elder<\/h2>\n
\"Boy<\/a>
Ukrainian child photographed on the last day of term at the Ukrainian Saturday School.<\/figcaption>Ritchie Elder \/ AOP<\/span><\/figure>\n

According to the press release, the series by Ritchie Elder documents a school that \u201cprovides Ukrainian children displaced by the war with the opportunity to learn Ukrainian language, culture, and history alongside their mainstream education and plays an important role in helping young people maintain a connection to their heritage while building new lives in Scotland.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\"Portrait<\/a>
This photo featuring Ukrainian dancers, is from another of Elder\u2019s series highlighted by AOP called \u201cBelonging.\u201d<\/figcaption>Ritchie Elder \/ AOP<\/span><\/figure>\n

Most of the shots are portraits, taken with a Canon EOS R6 and Canon RF 50mm F1.2 L USM lens, with Ritchie working \u201cclosely with the children, their parents, and school staff to create this series.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the Author: <\/span>Mitchell started taking pictures at 10 and hasn\u2019t stopped since. It\u2019s been a wide-ranging adventure, spanning a wide variety of genres and locales, and occasionally dipping into fascinations with video and filmmaking. They honed their technical knowledge doing documentation, programing and QA, writing for The Verge, and just generally messing around on the computer to see what breaks.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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