/ 2025 / Nature / Wildlife

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Bálint Érlaki, Germany
• Date of Photograph
  31 May, 2025

This alpha male orangutan waited silently in the canopy of Tanjung Puting National Park, Borneo — wild, though partially habituated to the feeding platform nearby. I captured this moment just before food arrived. His gaze feels disarmingly human: calm, powerful, and full of presence. It invites projection, reflection — and quiet awe.

Bálint Érlaki is a Germany-based psychotherapist of Hungarian origin whose photographic work has received growing international recognition across fine art, portrait, and architectural photography.

Awards In 2025, he was awarded a Gold Award at the Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) in Portraiture/Wedding (Non-Professional) for New York Stories: Happiness at Grand Central. The same body of work also received a Bronze Award in People – Wedding at the Tokyo International Foto Awards 2025, as well as an Honorable Mention at the International Photography Awards (IPA) 2025 in the same category.

At PX3 2025, his work was further distinguished with five additional Honorable Mentions across multiple categories.

His abstract fine art series Folded Waves received Honorable Mentions at both the ND Awards 2025 (Fine Art: Abstract, Non-Professional) and the Monovisions Black & White Photography Awards 2025 in the Fine Art category.

In architectural photography, Érlaki was named a Finalist at the Architecture Photography Awards 2025, with Stars, Stripe and Stone (Bridges category) and Eye of a Fly (Windows category).