Framing the Moment: Abbey Road’s 2025 Nominees Capture Music’s Many Faces
Image by Live Music nominee, Greg Noire [Doja Cat]
Abbey Road Studios has just announced the nominees for its Music Photography Awards – and the images are more iconic than ever. The competition drew in over 20,000 images submitted from 30 different countries and included two new categories: Portrait and Festivals. The 40 nominated images will be featured in an exhibition that is free to attend in London’s New Pop One (Outernet) from 19-23 September, whilst fans can also vote for Music Moment of the Year.
Image by Music Moment of The Year nominee, Josh Druding [Chappell Roan]
Here's a few more information on the selected nominees and categories:
2025’s Abbey Road Music Photography Awards include portraiture, festivals, music moments, live music, emerging photographers, making music, underground scenes and club culture The photographers selected feature images from major stars such as Chappel Roan, J Balvin, Charlie XCX, Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Enter Shikari. The portraits capture personalities, identity and gaze play; the festivals immortalise big crowds, muddy fields and spectacle; music moments that linger and evoke mood and narrative and lastly, the movement of clubs and live music photography – a visual representation of sound and expression.
Image by Portrait nominee, Inès Ziouane
Looking through some of the finalist images, there are a few specific elements that make some shots hit hard:
· Contrast of scale: intimate portraits vs enormous crowds, chaos against silence.
· Lights and textures: dramatic lights, silhouettes, grit (mud, sweat, rain) and texture (fur, costumes, staging) make the images catch the eye and tickle all senses.
· Emotion: this is what images do – they freeze a moment.
· Atmosphere and mood: black and white, colours, tones, warmth, coolness, framing – all these elements evoke more than what you can see; they bring heat, breath and nostalgia.
Image by Festivals nominee, Jez Pennington [Enter Shikari]
The entries are not just concert photos or snapshots; they are storytelling tools establishing cultural memory, fashion and identity. They bring sound, moment and atmosphere into one and remind us that how we see music shapes how we feel it. In a world where most images are filtered through phones and social media, a great photograph can stop us, make us think and bring us back into the room.
Image by Club Culture nominee, Connor Baker [Glitterbox]
If you get a chance, go see the exhibition. And also vote for your Music Moment of the Year – your favourite image might just make people pause on one of them. Vote here: https://abbeyroadmusicphotographyawards.com/vote
BY: CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI
Image by Fetsivals nominee, Thomas Ranner [Nova Rock Festival]
