Winners 2026

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Winners of Jazz World Photo 2026

Stefano Barni / Italy

I live in Turin, Italy, where I was born in 1962—making me a true boomer, with music in my ears and photography in my heart ever since. Self-taught, I would not dare call myself a photographer, but rather a passionate admirer of beautiful melodies and meaningful images. For the past twenty-five years, I have been steadily chasing jazz—searching for light and shadow, and perhaps even more so, for emotion. The greatest gift photography has given me is not only the images themselves, but the many extraordinary encounters along the way: the exchange of ideas, lasting friendships, the feeling of belonging to a world that has always inspired and engaged me, and finally, the thrill of creating my own personal vision of it.


Ota Blahoušek / Czechia

Born in Olomouc in 1974, he has been deeply interested in nature, music, and photography since childhood. The connection between nature and photography became especially significant in the 1990s during his university studies in biology, where he applied his knowledge of physicochemical photographic processes to microphotography and experimental documentation.
At that time, he also began to pursue photography more systematically and studied it at an academic level—something he later considered a mistake to leave unfinished. Nevertheless, he continued his photographic work, with occasional breaks, into the digital era. In recent years, he has been responsible for the photographic documentation of events at the Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc.
Daniel Glückmann / Spain

Together with tango, jazz was the soundtrack of my childhood in Argentina. It was the 1960s, and I can still remember many of the long-playing records my father adored. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Johnny Hodges, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, and many others inspired my early beginnings as a drummer, while I practiced enthusiastically—and broke most of the chairs in our home.
In the end, however, it was photography that truly captured my passion. I was incredibly fortunate to begin working as a photojournalist at just eighteen years old, covering the news. Combining both passions, I took my first jazz photograph at a Stan Getz concert in 1976. A manually assembled film roll caused an accidental double exposure, creating a surprisingly beautiful image of two Getzes—one I still treasure today.

Stefano Barni / Italy

I live in Turin, Italy, where I was born in 1962—making me a true boomer, with music in my ears and photography in my heart ever since. Self-taught, I would not dare call myself a photographer, but rather a passionate admirer of beautiful melodies and meaningful images.

For the past twenty-five years, I have been steadily chasing jazz—searching for light and shadow, and perhaps even more so, for emotion.

The greatest gift photography has given me is not only the images themselves, but the many extraordinary encounters along the way: the exchange of ideas, lasting friendships, the feeling of belonging to a world that has always inspired and engaged me, and finally, the thrill of creating my own personal vision of it.

Ota Blahoušek / Czechia

Born in Olomouc in 1974, he has been deeply interested in nature, music, and photography since childhood. The connection between nature and photography became especially significant in the 1990s during his university studies in biology, where he applied his knowledge of physicochemical photographic processes to microphotography and experimental documentation.

At that time, he also began to pursue photography more systematically and studied it at an academic level—something he later considered a mistake to leave unfinished. Nevertheless, he continued his photographic work, with occasional breaks, into the digital era. In recent years, he has been responsible for the photographic documentation of events at the Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc.

His musical interests gradually evolved from classic rock toward blues and jazz. Concert photography naturally became an extension of his perception of music and its atmosphere.

In addition to photography, he also creates documentary films focused on environmental themes. In this field, he combines visual sensitivity, camera and drone operation, and a deep knowledge of the natural landscape.

Daniel Glückmann / Spain

Together with tango, jazz was the soundtrack of my childhood in Argentina. It was the 1960s, and I can still remember many of the long-playing records my father adored. John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Johnny Hodges, Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis, and many others inspired my early beginnings as a drummer, while I practiced enthusiastically—and broke most of the chairs in our home.

In the end, however, it was photography that truly captured my passion. I was incredibly fortunate to begin working as a photojournalist at just eighteen years old, covering the news. Combining both passions, I took my first jazz photograph at a Stan Getz concert in 1976. A manually assembled film roll caused an accidental double exposure, creating a surprisingly beautiful image of two Getzes—one I still treasure today.

Since then, and now celebrating my fiftieth anniversary of living in Spain, I have worked in many photography-related roles for newspapers, magazines, and agencies, while never letting go of jazz. When photographing jazz, my eye is always behind the camera, yet I feel completely part of the music. It is truly exciting to tell that story.

At @gluckjazz, I have gathered some of the photographs of the hundreds of extraordinary musicians I have captured over the years. More recently, I have covered festivals and concerts, and conducted interviews for leading Spanish jazz publications such as MasJazz and In&Out.

Nowadays, instead of breaking chairs, it is my car that suffers while I tap away with the drumstick I still carry everywhere—often in the middle of traffic, always accompanied by eternal jazz.