Photographs from the Icelandic Horse project are International Pet Photography Awards finalists
Wow, I can't believe it... I am a finalist of the International Pet Photography Awards in the category Equine Portrait with photographs from my Icelandic Horse Project!
July 2026What an honour. I can't believe it.
On Monday, July 20th, 2026, I received messages from some very excited photography friends on my phone, but I didn’t realise what had happened. When I finally took the time to read the messages and the news, I was so surprised.
I entered the competition to get feedback and to work on my accreditation. Because of how big this competition is and the high level of work, I never really thought about the competition part. Just to give you an idea: this year there were 4,220 entries from 48 countries.
I focused on the learning part of it.
Never in a million years did I expect this.
My three highest scoring photographs were of beautiful horses from Hekluhestar their herd, Jorien van Koten, owner of Pattúr, Michiel Blok, owner of Sátt, Marjan Oosterveen, owner of Hyndla and Huldumey.
Later in the week, I received a message that my photo was featured in Forbes, and shortly afterwards I also discovered an article on Bored Panda about the International Pet Photography Awards. Wow.
It feels so unreal. I still can't believe it, and it feels so special to see my work included in this list of incredible photographers.
The photograph of Hyndla and Huldumey was made in 2014 at Marjan’s field. I have since had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Huldumey again, this time with her own foal. How special is that?
The other finalist photographs are Sátt and her foal Pattúr from Jorien made in Germany in 2022 and the Hekluhestar herd that I photographed in the South of Iceland in 2023.
It is such an honour that, over the years, I have been able to photograph so many wonderful horses and that all these beautiful animals allowed me into their fields to capture their personalities and stories.
To their owners: thank you for trusting me with your horses.
The photographs for this year’s International Pet Photography Awards were judged by an international panel of specialist animal photographers and expert judges. This year, the 27 judges were: Alex Cearns (Australia), Alice Loder (UK), Amy Johnson (USA), An Di Prima (UK), Anne Geier (Austria), Bill Parsons (USA), Charlotte Reeves (Australia), Craig Turner-Bullock (New Zealand), Danica Barreau (USA), Denise Landerberg (Sweden), Diana Lundin (USA), Elke Vogelsang (Germany), Ewan Cheyne (UK), Jessica McGovern (UK), Jo Howell (Australia), Katherine Williams (New Zealand), Kris Anderson (Australia), Mareike Konrad (Germany), Monica Van Der Maden (Netherlands), Nat Martinez (USA), Nicole Begley (USA), Nils Jacobi (Germany), Phyllis Burchett (USA), Rachael Smith (New Zealand), Richard Wood (New Zealand), Shar Devine (New Zealand) and Travis Patenaude (USA).
Soon we will know more.
The International Pet Photography Awards Online Ceremony is on 31 July 2026.
On 5 August 2026, the results will be released. Participants will get to see their score and feedback on their photographs and know how far they got on their accreditation journey.
Take a look at all the amazing and inspiring work from all the talented pet photographers on the website:
https://www.petphotographyawards.com/
