We love our pets, but capturing their unique personalities in a single photograph can be challenging. The winners of the International Pet Photography Awards managed the impossible: catching dogs, cats, and horses in their elements. The honorees, announced earlier this year, were selected from m ore than 3,000 entries from 41 different countries. Awards were handed out across six categories: Action, Creative, Documentary, Pets & People, Portrait, and new-for-2024, Equine. Dogs led the way for submissions, featuring in nearly 80 percent of images. Man’s best photographed friend indeed. Winner, ActionThe image was taken at a sand excavation site in Norway. While my vision was initially to photograph in the Sahara, I had to get creative and find a local spot that could replicate the sandy, warm atmosphere I envisioned. After exploring several locations, I finally found a suitable sand site that matched my concept for the shot.Credit: Copyright 2024 Regine Jensen / International Pet Photography Awards Submissions for the 2025 competition open May 18 with finalists announced on September 1, 2025. So get your cat to smile and your dog to leap. Finalist, ActionRio is one of my favorite models—an incredible working dog who shines in dog shows with his human. This photo, taken almost a year ago during my first shoot with him, confirmed my love for capturing action shots, from water runs to frisbee tricks.Credit: Copyright 2024 Anne-Laurie Léger / International Pet Photography Awards Finalist, ActionCats are never easy to photograph, I let ‘Lady’ do her own thing and I had to be really fast following her every move as she spontaneously jumped into action.Credit: Copyright 2024 Jaydene Chapman / International Pet Photography Awards Jaydene Chapman Finalist, ActionLexie is very calm.. until she sees her ball. As soon as she has eyes on the ball, nothing else is important. Tornado? A buffalo herd? I think she wouldn’t even notice. The beach was the perfect location for her energy. We saw the most beautiful sunset this day and used the light to create beautiful shots like this.Credit: Copyright 2024 Celine Robel / International Pet Photography Awards Finalist, DocumentaryAn early morning bringing weaned lambs into the yards. The New Zealand Huntaway works the lambs by barking to move them up. There was plenty of action in this shot, the horses had come over for a look and the sun was just breaking through the clouds. With the long shadows and the light rays, the image seemed to work well in black and white. I often try to get images when the dogs are working a mob, sometimes its all a blur, but this time it all came together!Credit: Copyright 2024 Rebecca Williams / International Pet Photography Awards Winner, EquineThis photo was taken in late August as part of a personal portfolio project I’ve been working on. Since I rarely capture action shots during my usual horse photography sessions, I felt inspired to try something different this time.Meet Friso, a remarkable and gentle seven-year-old Friesian stallion with a heart of gold. He truly embodies the spirit and strength that remind me of the deep inspiration horses offer us every day. Despite his calm demeanor, he showed incredible energy and grace, bringing such powerful emotion to this moment.For safety reasons, Friso wasn’t entirely free during this session—he ran with a long rope that I later edited out.Credit: Copyright 2024 Sabrina Einig / International Pet Photography Awards Pets & People, FinalistThis is a picture of my own daughter on her 2nd birthday and my own old dog Kenai. My goal was to try to create an image that reflected their friendship and capture the message “man’s best friend”. An image that we will always be able to look back on and remember the fantastic relationship.Kenai was a rehoming dog that I adopted as a teenager, a dog that became my best friend and was the most amazing companion. The day I came home with my daughter, Kenai fell in love with this little person as much as I did. Their relationship was really something extra, he slept with her, played with her followed her everywhere. This picture means a lot to me personally as it is the last picture of them together. Kenai unfortunately became very ill two days later and had to be put to sleep after 11 years of faithful friendship.Credit: Copyright 2024 Natalie Genberg / International Pet Photography Awards Finalist, EquineThe photo shows Hilal, a lovely arabian horse, on a mountain meadow in southern Germany. On that evening we were very lucky, because we had a beautiful sunset with amazing colours in the sky. Being a finalist means a lot to me. It was the first time for me entering the Awards and I have never expected such an awesome result.Credit: Copyright 2024 Denise Strauch / International Pet Photography Awards Pets & People, FinalistAfter Shutterhound one of Kaylee’s phrases stayed with me, she said that we should go where nobody is going. So I decided to head to the beach and started my first personal project and Dali was one of the dogs that really impressed me on that first shoot. The bond between them is beyond this dimension and this image really portrays that.Credit: Copyright 2024 Rebeca Saborio / International Pet Photography Awards rebeca saborio Pets & People, FinalistI call this piece “Moon Salutation”. After submitting a similar dog yoga silhouette last year (to IPPA), I received feedback to simplify the scene and to pay attention to details. Embracing that advice, I revisited the concept this year with a different human and dog – a pair that work daily on their bond. It took us two outings, and multiple location changes, but I think we found the formula that worked!Credit: Copyright 2024 Ginger Wick / International Pet Photography Awards Ginger Wick Finalist, EquineThis photograph features a PRE gelding who has endured a challenging past before my client purchased and rehabilitated him. Captured in early June of 2024, I began our session with some portraits, but he kept tucking his neck towards my client. As for me, I snuck into the barn to photograph him from a parallel angle. In a heartwarming moment, he lowered his head to my client’s hand—a dream scenario that felt surreal! Given the horse’s history prior to my client’s care, I believed he deserved a special photo session to honor the remarkable being he has become and what he endured. I wanted to capture not only his outer beauty but also the gentle soul within. He truly nailed it and connected with me so well.Credit: Copyright 2024 Samantha Dawn Ebeling / International Pet Photography Awards Samantha Dawn Portrait, FinalistI was taking an image of just the dog when the cat jumped up on the stump and photobombed and then nestled in with his bestie and I caught the shot. These two have the sweetest relationship and I hope that is reflected in my image.Credit: Copyright 2024 Heidi Adler / International Pet Photography Awards heidi adler photography Portrait, FinalistThe mysterious portrait, carved into basalt rocks in Czech republic, is set in a place reminiscent of the world of “The Lord of the Rings” and the dark land of Mordor. This white Swiss Shepherd symbolizes the white spirit, a white wizard, a protector, and never-dying hope.Credit: Copyright 2024 Denisa Albaniová / International Pet Photography Awards Portrait, FinalistThe image, titled “Curious Flower,” aims to show the beauty and intriguing nature of one of the world’s most misunderstood pets.The subject, a rescue rat named Buttons, elegantly showcased his inquisitive nature while positioned on a flower pot. Rats are often misunderstood, and through this image, I hope the audience will view rats in a different light. Having this image reach the top 10 of the portrait category means everything; I’m genuinely thrilled that little Buttons has his moment in the spotlight.Credit: Copyright 2024 Emma Pope / International Pet Photography Awards The post 15 delightful images from the International Pet Photography Awards appeared first on Popular Science. ...read more read less