Icarus Moonward: A Self-Portrait

Photographer

Marcel van beek

Category

Minimalist Photography - Portraits

Company

Submission Group

Professional

Year

2026

Country / Region

Germany

‘Icarus’ is a conceptual self-portrait that explores the boundary between creative ambition and personal fragility. Captured strictly in-camera, the work utilizes the ancient myth as a metaphor for the artist’s own journey through the industrial and natural ‘soulscapes’. By deconstructing the human form into a play of light and metallic textures, the image transcends literal representation. It is a visual dialogue with the self, where the desire to soar meets the cold reality of the material world, reflecting a state of transition and the search for an ‘Otherworld’.

Professional
2026
2026 MUSE Photography Winner - Library of Congress: Ceiling by Glenn Goldman

Photographer / Company

Glenn Goldman

Category

Commercial Photography - Travel / Tourism

Country / Region

United States

Professional
2026
2026 MUSE Photography Winner - Blade Blaze by Shirley Wung

Photographer / Company

Shirley Wung

Category

Special Category - Night Photography 

Country / Region

Taiwan

Professional
2026
2026 MUSE Photography Winner - Dreamtime Confluence by Brett wood

Photographer / Company

Brett wood

Category

Nature Photography - Aerial/Drone

Country / Region

Australia

Amateur
2026
2026 MUSE Photography Winner - Always Children, always friends by João Coelho

Photographer / Company

João Coelho

Category

Editorial Photography - Feature Story

Country / Region

Portugal