Simone Morelli - The Best B&W Photo Project Of The Year 2025

Hello Simone, you are the « B&W Photographer Of The Year » 2025. For this, you win an Iphone 16 512 GB. What do you think about being selected as a winner among hundreds of other photographers ?

I'm honored to be among the winners. I know I poured passion and dedication into this deeply intimate project, and I'm truly happy that it has been recognized.

Winning with a work that is so important and personal to me is a great satisfaction, and knowing that it resonated with the jury makes me even more grateful.

Can you tell us about your background and how you became a photographer ?

Until 2014, I didn't really know what photography was.

I was given an analog camera as a gift, and that's how I started taking pictures in the streets, without any real sense of purpose — just driven by curiosity.

Over time, I grew by reading books and studying the images of great photographers from the past — and beyond.

From that moment on, photography became an obsession for me.

What about the « Sale » series, how did you build this project and what do you plan to do in the future ?

I approach each of my projects in a very different way.

In the case of Sale, every photograph was taken without a defined plan — they are all instinctive, gut-driven shots that aim to evoke the emotions the sea has always stirred in me.

As a winner of our photo competition you will join the jury of our photo competition for the next edition, what advice can you give to photographers who want to apply for next year ?

I would certainly be honored to be part of the jury.

I would advise participants to focus on originality and simplicity, but most importantly, on the effectiveness of their projects.

The goal should be to deeply engage the jury, ensuring that the project is clear, authentic, and able to stand out.

This is what I would hope to find in the works I have the pleasure of reviewing.

Simone Morelli (@morelli.simone.photography) is the winner of the B&W IPA 2025 Grand Prize, Simone was born and raised in Roma. Since 2016, he has been practicing photography — mainly street photography, but not exclusively — in an almost obsessive way. Through the lens, he aims to capture moments of everyday life or create small visual stories that lie somewhere between reportage and personal narrative. For him, photography is a powerful form of expression: a tool that allows him to connect with new people or uncover hidden worlds, whether in his own city or anywhere else in the world.