New perspectives, surprising places: Photo hotspots in Europe and the world

On this year's World Photo Day on August 19, CEWE is publishing selected motifs from the top 20 photo hotspots of amateur and professional photographers in Europe and around the world – all of them submissions to the past CEWE Photo Award. Especially now, when crises are on our minds, it is worth taking a trip around the world with CEWE. Because the motto of the photo competition is and remains: "Our world is beautiful". In this way, unexpected, unique photos can be discovered and captured everywhere on our beautiful planet. By the way: CEWE is also currently looking for the most beautiful impressions – for the CEWE Photo Award 2023.

Who would have thought that Budapest is more in demand than Berlin in the eyes of photography enthusiasts and that Paris, on the other hand, lands in sixth place among European photo hotspots? Or that Fuzhou (in China) would climb to third place in the global top 10 after New York and Tehran? Mining the geodata of the more than 600,000 submissions to the CEWE Photo Award 2021 revealed these amazing favorite places and motifs of photo fans worldwide. CEWE provides insights into where people most frequently pressed the shutter release with their cameras in Europe and around the world and shows the beauty of the world in new perspectives and with extraordinary motifs. 

By the way, the CEWE Photo Award 2023 has been launched: amateur and professional photographers now have one year to submit their best motifs to the popular photo competition. There are ten categories to choose from: "Landscapes", "People", "Nature", "Architecture and Technology", "Sports", "Cooking and Food", "Hobby and Leisure", "Animals", "Travel and Culture" and "Aerial Photos". Each participant can submit up to 100 photos during this period. Each month, three additional monthly winners will be chosen, each of whom will receive a voucher for CEWE photo products worth 100 euros. A total of 1,000 prizes with a total value of over 250,000 euros await the winning participants. 

More information at www.cewephotoaward.com

Click here for the picture captions.

  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 1 Europe Place: Budapest Title: Budapest Underground Photographer: Marek Tuma Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Like a ghost train, the metro rushes past the eye of the beholder. The picture was taken in the historical part of the Budapest underground network at the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky station, a station on line 1 of the Budapest Metro that opened in 1896, and is one of the winning photos of the CEWE Photo Award, the world's largest photo competition.
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    Hotspot 2 Europe Place: Berlin Title: Underworlds Photographer: Yannick Lange Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Harmonious interplay of colours and shapes underground: the metropolis of Berlin also shows its exciting side in its underground network with a labyrinth of corridors, stairs and platforms.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 3 Europe Place: Hamburg Title: Ride into the sunrise Photographer: Jan Frederik Kleesattel Category: Landscapes Caption: The port of Hamburg as if bathed in warm gold: The photo of the harbour ferry 62 sailing into the sunrise is reminiscent of a romantic painting by William Turner in its colour and light composition.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 4 Europe Place: Vienna Title: Orange Box Photographer: Matthias Brandt Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: The picture shows an unusual façade on the Prater Campus in Vienna and captivates not only by its shape but also by the special colour contrast of the orange building against the azure sky.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 5 Europe Place: Prague Title: Siesta Photographer: Jana Kupcakova Category: People Caption: Moment of relaxation in the hustle and bustle of Prague's big city: from the cafés you can wonderfully observe the life of the big city passing by outside the windows, and vice versa.
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  • Hotspot 6 Europe Place: Paris Title: Basket acrobatique Photographer: Simon Alvarez Foucher Category: Sport Caption: Up high: In the middle of Paris, in the skyscraper and office district Défense, this dynamic sports picture was taken. It shows basketball players who, with the help of trampolines, soar into dizzying heights and seem to take on the skyscrapers.
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  • Hotspot 7 Europe Place: Munich Title: Analogue meets modern Photographer: Mirjam Radke Category: People Caption: At home in different worlds: A man is talking on his smartphone but taking photos with an analogue camera. The photographer captured the scene on a graffiti site in Bavaria's capital Munich.
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  • Hotspot 8 Europe Place: London Title: Underground Blooms Photographer: Mark Higham Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: For this photo, taken by photographer Mark Higham on the Docklands Light Railway in London, he sat in the last carriage with a window and chose a particularly long exposure and travel time through a tunnel. The result is a work of art that transforms the lights reflecting on the journey into a kind of organic, flower-like form.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 9 Europe Place: Warsaw Title: Architecture Photographer: Magdalena Schumann Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: You almost get a little dizzy looking at this photo. The photographer captured an extreme reflection of a skyscraper façade in Poland's capital Warsaw.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 10 Europe Place: Zagreb Title: Skater on the streets of Zagreb Photographer: Ernest Mazarekic Category: People Caption: In Croatia's capital Zagreb, too, many streets are deserted during the Corona-related lockdown. A skater takes advantage of the car-free hours and does a lap through the middle of the city.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 1 worldwide Place: New York Title: Student Photographer: Alessio Capitoni Category: People Caption: A contemplative moment in the city that never sleeps: the photographer captures this scene of a student working intently in New York's largest public library, the Public Library. With 55 million media, the library, founded in 1895, is now one of the largest in the world.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 2 worldwide Place: Tehran Title: Rainy Tehran Photographer: Mohammad Dadsetan Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Rain clouds tower over a rugged mountain range and Iran's metropolis Tehran, revealing the special power and beauty of nature, which here stands in stark contrast to the skyline of the megacity.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 3 worldwide Place: Fuzhou Title: Grab Sheep Game 2 Photographer: Bin Xiao Category: Travel and Culture Caption: Not a ball, but a sheepskin serves as the toy here. In this traditional Chinese game of throwing and catching, players riding camels or horses whirl a prepared sheepskin or goatskin through the air.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 4 worldwide Place: Dhaka Title: Watermelons worker Photographer: Azim Khan Ronnie Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Photographer Azim Khan Ronnie, who incidentally won the "Aerial Photography" category of the CEWE Photo Award 2021, also captures a scene from the air at the Sadarghat water market in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka. Thousands of bright green watermelons stacked on a boat are waiting to be transported further by land.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 5 worldwide Place: Dubai Title: Fog over Dubai Photographer: Uwe Gansäuer Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Actually, the sun almost always shines in Dubai, the land of superlatives. But here, the photographer managed to capture one of the rare weather conditions with fog over the city. The photo was taken from the Burj Khalifa, currently the tallest building in the world at 829.8 metres.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 6 worldwide Place: Calcutta Title: The Barber Photographer: Shubhodeep Roy Category: People Caption: Waiting for customers: This barber is waiting for customers in India's megalopolis Calcutta and seems to be wondering how his own beard is doing. A picture that is particularly convincing because of the composition of the moment, reflection and colour intensity.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 7 worldwide Place: Sao Paulo Title: O moderno e o antigo Photographer: Edmilson Sanches Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Contrasts of shapes and colours, of old and new: in this successful composition, the photographer focuses on the contrasts that stretch into the sky in Brazil's metropolis of Sao Paulo.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 8 worldwide Place: Shanghai Title: Jump to a new height Photographer: Jubo Cao Category: Sport Caption: This skater seems to be literally jumping over the roofs of the world. The picture was taken in China's metropolis Shanghai and shows in a special way that when taking a photo, it often comes down to the single, right moment of the shutter release.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 9 worldwide Place: Sydney Title: Way up there Photographer: Ulrich Mingram Category: Architecture & Technology Caption: Being free from giddiness is a prerequisite for this work: the photographer captures a work scene on the roof of the Sydney Opera House.
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  • [Translate to Englisch:]
    Hotspot 10 worldwide Place: Bangkok Title: Always a smile on your face Photographer: Martin Rudolph Category: People Caption: Unusual things often reveal a special magic. Martin Rudolph photographed this friendly young man at the so-called Trainmarket near Bangkok, a bustling market along train tracks. There was enough time for a smiling greeting!
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Use of the photos only in the context of reporting on the CEWE Photo Award.