Derry Ainsworth’s aerial series Hong Kong From Above turns the city’s density into art—and wins top honours at the 2026 European Photography Awards.
Hong Kong’s famously dense skyline has long fascinated architects, designers and photographers alike. Now, it has earned fresh international recognition through the lens of Hong Kong-based British photographer Derry Ainsworth, whose aerial series Hong Kong From Above has won Architecture Photographer of the Year at the 2026 European Photography Awards. The series was also named winner of the Architecture Photography—Drone Series category.
Shot from directly overhead, Ainsworth’s images offer a striking departure from the city’s familiar harbour-facing skyline. Residential towers, rooftop terraces, swimming pools and arterial roads are reframed as a patchwork of colour, repetition and precise geometry. From this elevated perspective, Hong Kong’s compact urban fabric becomes less about congestion and more about composition—an intricate visual system shaped by density, infrastructure and everyday life.
The work is especially compelling because it resists the usual postcard view of Hong Kong. Instead of dramatic skylines or sweeping cityscapes, Ainsworth turns his attention to the details that often disappear in the rush of daily life: clusters of identical windows, narrow gaps between buildings, layered roofscapes and the unexpected patterns formed by light and shadow. Familiar neighbourhoods become graphic studies in rhythm and scale.
Ainsworth’s background in architecture is evident in his sensitivity to form and spatial relationships. His photographs explore the way Hong Kong’s built environment structures life, from the compact homes that rise vertically across the city to the carefully choreographed boundaries between private residences, public streets and shared amenities. Each frame invites viewers to consider how people live within a metropolis where space is both limited and intensely negotiated.
This year’s European Photography Awards received more than 3,000 entries from over 40 countries and regions. Ainsworth’s win is not only a significant personal milestone, but also a celebration of Hong Kong’s enduring power as a source of visual inspiration.
Through Hong Kong From Above, the city is revealed in a new light: familiar yet abstract, overwhelming yet ordered, and full of beauty in the patterns that emerge when we take a step back.
Photo courtesy of European Photography Awards
