Aviation Week’s 2024 Photo Contest: The Winning Photographers

This year’s winners represent an assortment of first-time entrants and veteran Aviation Week Photo Contest entrants.

Best of the Best

Jacob Rutledge is driven by an enduring passion for aviation and photography. He has spent decades capturing the dynamic energy of flight from behind the camera. By day, Rutledge supports the next wave of aviation innovation, and by the weekend, he is at air shows and airports across the U.S., seeking that defining shot that brings the thrill of flight to life. He strives to inspire a new generation of aviation enthusiasts to look skyward. Rutledge’s work was recognized as an Editors’ Pick in the Commercial Aviation category in 2019.

First Place, Defense, and Third Place, Photo Illustration

Avichai Socher is an aerospace engineer who currently works on Boeing 777-300ERSF freighter conversions. He has photographed a wide range of subjects, including aviation, astrophotography and landscapes. He specializes in creative night photography. He won prizes in the Aviation Week Photo Contest in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022.

Second Place, Defense

Benoit Denet is a Belgian photojournalist who seeks to present the beauty and power of aviation. He graduated from the Brussels Photography Institute. His work has been published in many aviation magazines. He also published a book about the operations of Belgian F-16s over Afghanistan, titled Belgian Falcons Over Afghanistan.

Third Place, Defense

Ken Hunt grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and spent a lot of time exploring the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and photographing aircraft there. He is an official photographer at the Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo. His work, which can be found at @kwhunt2 on Instagram, was featured in the 2020 and 2022 Aviation Week Photo Contests.

First Place, Commercial

Martin Boschhuizen lives in the Netherlands. This is his first year competing in the Aviation Week Photo Contest. He took up photography in 1987 at age 15, shooting commercial aviation subjects initially before adding military aircraft and helicopters to his repertoire. Boshchhuizen specializes in capturing the essence of flight against spectacular weather. His website is www.boschh.com.

Second Place, Commercial

Marty Wolin is a freelance photographer who specializes in shooting aviation subjects and wildfires. He teaches photography and is a contributing photographer at AerialFire Magazine. Wolin has worked for Combat Camera at the former Norton AFB, California, and for Lockheed Martin as a photographer in Ontario and Palmdale, California. This is his fourth straight year as a winner in the Aviation Week Photo Contest, all in the Commercial Aviation category.

Third Place, Commercial

Artur Jarosz, based in Warsaw, Poland, is an engineering manager and design engineer for a jet engine manufacturer. As a freelancer, he has been photographing airplanes, mostly airliners, all around the world for more than 20 years. Some of his work has been published in inflight magazines and various aviation publications. He is a longtime community member and photo screener for airliners.net. This is his first year competing in the Aviation Week Photo Contest.

First Place, Space

Ben Cooper has been photographing rocket launches for 20 years, with nearly 300 to date. After working for Aviation Week & Space Technology and Spaceflight Now in the 2000s, he shot for NASA in the final years of the space shuttle program and since has taken many launch-provider photos at Cape Canaveral. Cooper attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He has placed nine times in the annual contest since 2008. His work can be seen at www.LaunchPhotography.com

Second Place, Space

Michael Seeley lives in Melbourne, Florida, and is a co-founder of We Report Space. Seeley is also a professional fundraiser, serving as the president of the Health First Foundation. He is an occasional contributor to National Geographic. Seeley won first place in the Space category in 2019.

Third Place, Space

John Kraus is a spaceflight photographer and a native of Florida’s Space Coast. First picking up a camera in 2015, Kraus has photographed more than 300 rocket launches in addition to his work with the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn astronaut crews. Kraus won the “Best of the Best” award in the 2018 Aviation Week Photo Contest.

First Place, Air-to-Air

Ricardo von Puttkammer is an award-winning photographer who has been recognized for his aviation, fine art and verite photography (@RVPNYC). He is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of Aviation Photojournal, an online magazine. The native of Sao Paulo now resides in New York, keeping his lens keenly focused on the world around him.

Second Place, Air-to-Air

Michal Adamowski has been photographing aviation subjects for almost 15 years. He lives in Poland and travels the world to take photos. In recent years, he has turned increasingly to air-to-air photography. His work has been featured in publications worldwide.

Third Place, Air-to-Air

Jose “Fuji” Ramos is an award-winning aviation photographer who enjoys capturing the power and precision of jet-powered flight. Based in Central Florida, he has been documenting various types of aircraft, primarily naval aviation, in the air-to-air environment for nearly 30 years. In that time, Ramos has developed a distinctive style that resonates with aviation enthusiasts and professionals. His work has been published in books and magazines around the world, and clients include Draken International, Lockheed Martin, Nikon USA and Tactical Air Support. This is Ramos’ third time placing in the Aviation Week Photo Contest, with a Defense first place in 2020 and second in 2023.

First Place, General

Michael Fettig owns Action Shots Photography and specializes in aviation and motorsports subjects. He is an official photographer for Sun ’n Fun. A photographer for more than 16 years, he also shoots for Late Model Digest and SportsPageMagazine.com.

Second Place, General

Brent Clark is a retired airline captain who specializes in aviation and landscape photography. With more than 30,000 flight hours, Clark has spent a lot of time in and around airplanes. “In 2009, I entered my first Aviation Week Photo Contest and was selected for the cover,” he says. “This was my first magazine cover.” His passion is photographing World War II warbirds. Clark’s work has been featured in publications and media worldwide.

Third Place, General

Kris Christiaens is a professional military and civil aviation photographer. He worked for several years as an official photographer for the Belgian Air Force. He spends most of his free time taking photos of helicopters and aircraft during military exercises, base visits, air shows and on official photo assignments for companies and air forces all across Europe. He specializes in sunset and night photo shoots, action shots and air-to-air photography.

First Place, Photo Illustration

Chris Goulet is a photography contributor for Airways Magazine and videographer and Part 107 drone pilot for Arizona State University. With a lifelong passion for aviation inspired by family members who have worked in the industry for decades, Goulet blends his love for aviation and his artistic vision with long-exposure night photography. His work can be found on Instagram at @phxplanepics.

Second Place, Photo Illustration

Richard P. Gallagher is a Florida-based photographer whose work documents the awe-inspiring moments of rocket launches at Kennedy Space Center and Starbase in Texas. In each image, he seeks to convey the raw energy, anticipation and grandeur of space launches. He served in the U.S. National Guard for eight years, including two combat deployments and three hurricane activations.