Meet the Jury
BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY
Ali Zolghadri is an internationally acclaimed Iranian fine art photographer known for his minimalist and conceptual black-and-white imagery. His work explores silence, solitude, and surreal narratives through precise composition and strong use of negative space.
Zolghadri has received 137 international photography awards from competitions worldwide and has served as a jury member for multiple international photography festivals. His work has been exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition in Dubai, as well as exhibitions in cities such as Paris, New York, Budapest, and Siena.
Recognized for his artistic achievements, he is a recipient of the UAE 10-year Golden Visa for Exceptional Talent.
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
I am a travel and aerial photographer whose work is deeply shaped by the experience of flying a Mavic 3. Aerial photography has opened up a new dimension for me—one of freedom, perspective, and discovery.
From above, familiar places are transformed into abstract compositions, where landscapes reveal hidden geometries, rhythms, and visual balance. Through each image, I aim to go beyond documentation, sharing not only what I see, but the sense of wonder and emotion that emerges when observing the world from an unexpected point of view.
WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY
Andy is a Nikon Europe Ambassador and a National Geographic photographer. One of Europe’s most acclaimed and respected photographers he has won over 130 National and International awards for his photography, most recently being named Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Big Picture Natural World Photography Competition, one of the most prestigious wildlife and conservation photography competitions in the world. His images have also been awarded four times in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, five times in the GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards and in 2016, as well as winning two categories, he was named as the overall winner in Bird Photographer of the Year.
He is currently the most successful photographer in the history of the British Wildlife Photography
Awards with 32 individual awards and four category wins whilst in 2012 he was named the Nature Photojournalist of the Year with a portfolio of 12 images captured whilst working on assignment for National Geographic. He has also received category winner in the 2021 and 2023 Nature’s Best Awards as well as Category winner and category runner-up in Nature Photographer of Year.
He’s also won multiple categories and the prestigious IUCN Portfolio Award in the Nature Images Awards.
As well as winning many awards Andy has also been invited to judge some of the world’s biggest and most prestigious competitions, most notably in 2025 when he has the honour of serving on the jury for the biggest and most prestigious wildlife photography competition on Earth, Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In 2021 he was one of 5 judges for the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards and he’s also been a recurring judge (3x) on Outdoor Photographer of the Year as well as a judge for the British Wildlife Photography Awards.
He was most recently made a Luminary for the 2025 Edition of Wildlife Artist of the Year.
An accomplished speaker he has spoken at the Houses of Parliament, the Royal Geographical Society (WildPhotos 2010 and 2025), the Lowland Photo Festival 2022 (Belgium), Nature Talks (The
Netherlands), Wizje Natury 2024 (Poland) and at GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022 (Germany).
He now spends much of the year sharing his knowledge and expertise, either through his YouTube channel @andyparkinsonphotography where he creates detailed photographic tutorials, or by leading his photographic safaris to countries like Brazil, Chile, India, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania.
Andy works exclusively with wild animals and birds and has also appeared on various TV and radio shows, most notably on Countryfile when he attempted to show comedian Jo Brand how to capture images of wildlife. He has also been interviewed on a TV show in Georgia, has appeared twice on BBC Breakfast, The One Show, The Victoria Derbyshire Show, Channel 5 News, BBC News, Love your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh as well as the BBC World Service, Radio 5Live, Radio Derby and Times Radio. He is also becoming known as much for his writing as he is for his images and among others he writes regularly on wildlife/environmental/ethical issues for various magazines.
He also has a formidable Social Media following with over 198,000 followers on Instagram, 30000+ on Threads, 12,000 on Facebook and he has recently started his own YouTube channel.
His images are marketed all over the world by a network of the world's leading international agencies including Getty images, Nature Picture Library, RSPB Images, FLPA and NHPA/Photoshot and his images have been sold in more than 100 countries worldwide. He also produces regular photo features for some of the world’s most prestigious magazines including National Geographic, Audubon, Geo and Terre Sauvage. He is also the UK’s most prolific feature contributor to BBC Wildlife magazine having completed 11 photo stories for them, often on subjects which he finds close to his Derbyshire home.
His images have also appeared in other magazines such as New Scientist, National Geographic Traveller, Geographical and Natural History, newspapers such as the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Times, Guardian, Independent, Daily Mail, The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Express as well as online media such as HuffPostUS, MSN, The Atlantic, ABC, BBC, BoredPanda, ChinaDaily, 9News, on the home page of search engine Bing and on the Discovery Channel.
He lives in Derbyshire with his wife Claire and their dog, Mya.