Visual Awareness Tool in 35AWARDS

The subject of all images is Moscow City — a modern business district in the center of Moscow. Photographers capture the architectural complex through a fence grid, creating a visual motif of observing the city through a barrier. The images are taken from the same viewpoint but at different times of day and under different lighting conditions. What unites them is not only the location but also the idea itself — the city seen through a broken fence as a symbol of both accessibility and distance.

Photography is facing a paradox. The world has never been so visually rich, yet a huge number of images repeat familiar ideas, locations, and subjects.

Popular shooting spots, well-known angles, staged scenes inspired by winners of past competitions — all of this is reproduced again and again. Sometimes a photograph looks unique and makes a strong impression, but similar images may already have appeared dozens of times before.

This group of images is dedicated to a night view of the river in Tokyo, photographed from the Eitai Bridge. In the foreground, light trails from boats captured with long exposure form bright lines across the water. In different frames the light trajectories vary in color and shape, but they are united by the same urban landscape and the visual effect of motion created by the lights.

At the same time, no person can physically see all the photographs that have ever been taken. Even experienced photographers usually have deep knowledge only within their own field.

This is exactly the problem we decided to try to solve.

A Tool That Expands Visual Awareness

At 35AWARDS we have started implementing a tool that shows the context of a photograph. Under some images the system may display blocks with visually related works.

These may be photographs with a similar idea, subject, composition, or images taken at the same location.

It is important to understand that this is not a typical “similar image search” and not a percentage of visual similarity. The system highlights only those cases where context can genuinely help better understand a photograph.

This allows the viewer to quickly see whether an image represents a new interpretation of an idea or is part of an already familiar visual concept.

When One Location Becomes Hundreds of Photographs

Some subjects are photographed so often that dozens of interpretations appear within the same visual theme.

In such cases the system can divide a cluster into more specific groups — for example by shooting point, angle, or the nature of the composition.

This makes it easier to understand the context. Sometimes a photographer works with a well-known location but discovers rare lighting, an unusual composition, or a new visual emphasis.

That is why it is important to see not only a single photograph, but also its surroundings — other interpretations of the same subject.

Clusters Can Combine More Than Just Visually Similar Images

The most important feature of the system is that it can group photographs not only by visual similarity, but also by the underlying idea of the shot.

Sometimes two images may look completely different, yet they share the same concept or creative approach.

This series shows the harvesting of water lilies in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. People in boats collect the flowers and arrange them into large circular compositions on the water. The photographs are taken from above, revealing the geometry of the patterns and the structure of the scene.

The subject of these images is the famous Bramante staircase in the Vatican Museums. Its spiral construction creates a strong visual effect of depth and motion. Photographers capture it from above, emphasizing geometry and symmetry.

For example, an unusual still life, a complex staged scene, or a visual idea that requires special execution.

Even if photographs differ in style, color, or processing, the system may group them into a single cluster if the core idea is the same.

At the moment this feature is available only to the international jury of 35AWARDS, where it is already being used during the evaluation process to provide additional visual context.

In the future we plan to expand this system and make it available to all participants and voters on the platform.

A New Level of Visual Awareness

It is important to understand that this tool does not evaluate photographs and does not make decisions for the viewer. It only provides additional context.

Perhaps the author photographed a popular location better than anyone before. Perhaps they expanded an existing idea or added something new to it.

But the decision always remains with the viewer.

Even professional photographers cannot know and remember everything. Usually each person is deeply familiar only with their own field. This tool expands the boundaries of visual awareness and helps reveal the context of ideas and subjects from around the world.

Our goal is to give every viewer a kind of “visual awareness exoskeleton” that allows them to navigate the world of photography faster and more deeply than ever before.