Planet Mangystau

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Photographer

Isabella Tabacchi
Prize

1st Place / Nature/Landscape
Jury Top 5 Selection

Hiroshi Osaka It is astonishing that such a surreal and mysterious landscape exists on this planet. I feel a sense of awe at this scenery, shaped over an unfathomable span of time since the Earth's formation. The skill used to capture it so magnificently and precisely is remarkable. I believe we must protect this beautiful Earth.
Company/Studios

Isabella Tabacchi Photography
Date of Photograph

Multiple dates from September 2024 to July 2025
Technical Info

Taken with a DJI Drone and Fujifilm cameras.
Website

www.isabellatabacchi.com

Planet Mangystau is a photography series that explores the remote landscapes of Mangystau in West Kazakhstan as if they belonged to another world. Through aerial perspectives and carefully chosen light, the project transforms deserts, cliffs, and sedimentary formations into surreal, almost extraterrestrial scenes. Ancient seabeds, sculpted by millions of years of erosion, appear like abstract paintings or alien terrains, where color, texture, and scale blur the line between Earth and imagination.

Biography

Born in 1992, I'm a professional landscape photographer based in the north of Italy. I've always had a sensibility for natural enviroments and photography came in my life suddenly; a huge passion exploded in my heart. I explored and studied the boundless sceneries in the Alps and I'm going to discover the rest of the World. The shots I take with my camera become images after post processing phase, in which I enphasize the strong elements of my landscape and I put in it the emotions I felt. My works were exhibited in Rome and Athens and published in online and paper magazines like Landscape Photography Magazine, National Geographic, Practical Photography and Digital Photo SLR UK. In 2017 I won the second prize and five honorable mentions in the Professional Landscapes category of the Monochrome Awards 2016. I won also two honorable mentions in the International Photographer of the Year awards (IPA) and my pictures were published in the Outdoor Photographer of the Year (OPOTY) Annual Book 2016 ("The magic of the night" is the cover). In April of the same year I won the first prize and three nominees in the Professional Landscapes category of the 3rd Fine Art Photography Awards. Photographer of the Year 2016 at La Grande Photo Awards. In August 2017 won the Black and White Landscape of the Year at Monovisions Awards. I'm member of two of the most important italian photographer associations : Tau Visual and AFNI (Italian nature photographers association).