The winners of the Virtual Photography Awards 2025 have been announced, and this year’s standout pictures include narrative-driven portraiture and otherworldly dreamscapes.
The competition recognizes the most creative stills captured during video game play using in-game photography technology. This year saw over 3,200 entries across seven different categories.
Hary G from the US scooped the overall Virtual Photographer of the Year award, as well as winning the Storytelling and Open categories.
His collection of tasteful images was captured across three video games: Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring and Ghost of Tsushima.
Of Hary’s seven winning images, the most eye-catching for me is the one of the cat inside a car witnessing an assassination happening just outside, which the viewer can see reflected in the car window.
The dual narrative of this scene grounds you in the story immediately but leaves so many questions unanswered.
Commenting on this winning image, Hary said: “Reflections and shadows can be a more subtle way to tell a story, leaving the ending open to whatever the viewer thinks of.”
Other notable winning images include a gritty, cold and life-like shot of a person whispering to another, taken by Hajer Haj (Saudi Arabia) in the game Horizon Forbidden West.
The way the image is cropped removes all context, which is what makes it so interesting to me.
Haj claimed first place in the People category with this shot, commenting: “That sense of uncertainty is what gives the image its meaning.”
The Virtual Photography Awards were established in 2020 by Mik Bromley, a UK-based photographer and capture artist who also runs The Fourth Focus, an online hub for modern art and video game photography.
Now in its fifth year, the competition judges entries in line with real-life photography principles such as composition, lighting, and emotional connection.
Judges said that this year’s “meticulously crafted” winning images created visually evocative stories across a wide range of scenarios which stand out on a creative and technical level.
What I find extra impressive is the presence of mind the artist had to recognize such poignant moments during the hecticness of video game play.
It’s one thing to take your camera on a scenic walk with all the time in the world, it’s another to spot a gripping composition during a Red Dead Redemption gunfight.
Last year's winner of the Virtual Photographer of the Year Award was Jonathan (Republic of Khakassia) with an abstract black-and-white architectural series. And in 2023, Taka San from Japan won with his stunning Avatar portraits.
The 2025 category winners copped a list of video games to add to their collection along with a $100 / £100 gaming gift card.
Overall Virtual Photographer of the Year 2025 winner Hary G took home the category winner prizes as well as limited-edition gaming gear.
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