An Image of Stillness, a Call for Action: The Story Behind Denise Werker’s Award-Winning Photo On the move
In the remote and ethereal landscapes of Antarctica, where silence feels ancient and light bends around sculpted ice, photographer Denise Werker found a moment that would define her journey—and earn her the Platinum Award & Photo of the Season in the Mobile Photography – Landscape category at the Best Photography Awards UK 2025 Autumn Season.
Her photograph, On the move, is more than a breathtaking landscape. It is a document of presence, of awe, and of humanity’s fragile relationship with the planet’s last great wilderness.
About On the move
Denise Werker: “In 2023, my husband and I took a trip of a lifetime to the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island, and the Antarctic Peninsular. During our passage through the Lemaire Channel, an 11 kilometer strait off the Antarctic Peninsular, I stood for a mesmerizing hour on an outside deck at the bow of our expedition ship as a parade of majestic turquoise sculptured icebergs silently and eerily emerged from the monochromatic fog and then disappeared back into the fog. My photograph, On the move, documents one moment in this magical hour.
I learned much later that the Lemaire Channel is nicknamed “Kodak Alley” because it is one of the most photographed tourist locations in Antarctica. Ironically, there was just one passenger keeping me company and taking photographs on this outside deck that day. Perhaps none of the other passengers knew the deck had been opened despite the icy conditions.
On the move reflects my awe of nature. This image also continues to remind me to find more ways to reduce, reuse, recycle in effort to save Antarctica and our planet.”
A Meditation on Ice, Light, and Impermanence
Werker’s reflection offers more than a travel memory—it becomes the emotional core that gives On the move its quiet power. What makes the photograph compelling is not merely its striking composition, but the profound sense of presence behind it.
Captured with a mobile device in harsh, icy conditions, On the move demonstrates how intuition, patience, and attentive seeing can converge into an image of rare emotional resonance. In the shifting silhouettes of the icebergs—emerging, dissolving, and reemerging—Werker finds a visual metaphor for impermanence, for the fragile equilibrium of a world shaped by climate and time.
Her photograph invites viewers not only to admire Antarctica’s sculptural beauty but also to reflect on the vulnerability of the ecosystems that carve these icy forms. In an era when mobile photography often prioritizes immediacy, Werker’s work stands as a reminder that it can also be contemplative, poetic, and deeply human—a quiet act of witnessing in one of the planet’s last untouched places.
