DAVID DEGELIN
"Great photography is about depth of feeling,”
Working at the intersection of portraiture and street photography, my practice is rooted in a fine art approach.
Photography, for me, is less about capturing than about enduring—finding a way to remain present within a world that often feels elusive and fragmented. It is through images that I negotiate uncertainty and occasionally arrive at moments of quiet coherence.
With a background in archaeology and social and cultural anthropology, my gaze is drawn to what lingers beneath the surface: unspoken tensions, silent gestures, the weight of absence.
My work explores solitude, alienation, and inner boundaries. The beauty of solitude forms a recurring, almost invisible line across my images.
Influences from Japanese aesthetics, film noir, European cinema, Renaissance art, and surrealism inform a visual language where light, composition, and stillness become narrative.
Finally, I am a huge fan of cats, especially of Siamese cats. I have created a small photo gallery of my Siamese cats here.
'David is concentrating on making layered compositions with excellent use of the frame and the needed poetry and attention to details which enhance the narrative. I feel a loneliness when I look at the work but I also feel an unexplainable sense of warmth.'
Review of David's work by lensculture
SELECTION OF AWARD WINNING PHOTOS
Recent Photo Awards:
-Berlin Photo Awards 2026 3rd Prize Winner in the category 'Portrait' with the photo 'The Birth of the Mirage' featuring Qian Zhao at the fountain on Place de la Concorde in Paris
-New York Photography Awards 2024 Gold Winner in the category 'AI-generated' images with the series 'Matonge Memories', a faux-documentary and tribute to the beauty and diversity of the women of Matonge (Brussels).
-New York Photography Awards 2024 Silver Winner in the category 'Portrait' with the series 'Stray Siren Immersed in a White Lie', a series that aims to draw people's attention to details that are mostly otherwise lost to most viewers.
-Tokyo International Foto Awards 2023 Bronze Winner in the category Fine Art/Portrait for the series 'The Siren Who Fell from Grace with the Sea' featuring Cassandra Marloye
-New York Photography 2023 Silver Winner in the category 'Fine Art/Portrait' for the Parisian portrait series 'Searching for Grace in the Light of a Dark Black Night featuring Silvija Anna.
-Minimalist Photography Awards 2023 2nd Place, in street photography category with 'Sulking Girl'a street portrait of a small girl in Paris
-reFocus Awards (New York) Silver 2023 in Color Photography Contest in the category 'Portrait' for the photo with the title 'Ít’s there when there is Nothing Left of Me', about the beauty of solitude, featuring Cassandra Marloye in one of the most unknown and unused pedestrian tunnels in Brussels.
-Moscow Foto Awards 2022 (MIFA 2022) Winner (Silver) in the category 'Fine Arts/Nude for the series 'In Praise of Scarlet Shadows', a series that portrays the Chinese model Qian Zhao and is inspired by the aesthetic essays of the Japanese writer Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, about colors, darkness, and light in traditional Japanese culture versus Western culture.
-Monochrome Photography Awards 2022 Third Place Winner in the category 'Fine Art' with the series 'The Morning Messenger' a tribute to Audrey Hepburn and her link to Brussels, featuring Cassandra Marloye.
-Monochrome Photography Awards 2021 Third Place Winner in the category 'Nude' for the series 'Submerged in the Blurry Blue Night', a portraiture series centered around the bathing ritual, approached from a still-life perspective.
-Tokyo International Foto Awards 2021 Bronze Winner for the series 'La Promeneuse', in the category 'Fine Arts/Special Effects', featuring Belgian model Elissa, inspired by Belgian surrealists Magritte and Delvaux, paying homage to the hidden beauty of Brussels
-New York Photography 2021 Silver Winner in the category 'Fine Arts/Nudes' for the bathing series 'Stray Siren on a Clear Day, featuring Chinese model Qian Zhao
-Moscow Foto Awards 2021 Winner in categories 'People-Portrait' and 'People-Culture' for the series 'Cry Me A River', a series that portrays the Flemish graphical artist Annemieke Van Barlingen
-Tokyo International Foto Awards 2020 Winner in category 'People-Portrait' with series 'The One Who Fell From Grace With The Sea', still life portraits of a woman bathing in milk
-Moscow Foto Awards 2020 Honorable Mention in the category 'People-Life Style' for 'Dancer in the Dark', a portrayal of French movement explorer Luna Ananda in old the docklands of Amsterdam
-Moscow Foto Awards 2019 Honorable Mention for 'In Praise of Bathing Shadows'
-Tokyo International Foto Awards 2019 Winner in category 'Portfolio-Fine Art' with series 'La Vedova Siciliana' (portraits of a widow)
-Selection Finals Siena International Photo Awards 2019 both for ‘3 moons’ (street photography) as well as ‘In Praise of Bathing Shadows’ in the category ‘storytelling’
-Monochrome Awards 2018 2nd Prize Professional Street Photography for Trinity (street photography on Trinity)
-Monochrome Awards 2018 Honorable Mention for On the Verge of a New Beginning (portrait of street youth)
-Tokyo International Foto Awards 2018 Honorable Mention for Reflections (photojournalism on drugs)
-International Photography Awards 2018 Honorable Mention for Mirroring Beauty (portraits of people with dementia)
