Aviation Week’s 2023 Photo Contest: Meet The 2023 Winning Photographers

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

Best of the Best

A former American Airlines pilot and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, John Winkopp has had a lifelong passion for photography. This was his first time entering the Aviation Week Photo Contest. After settling in Cocoa Beach, Florida, six years ago, he began photographing rocket launches. Winkopp has donated many of his photographs to the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. His image portfolio can be found under the name Space Coast Pictures. Additionally, for the past few years, Winkopp has been contributing to What About It!? media, providing viewers with his perspective on the space industry.

First Place, Defense

Yissachar Ruas began taking photos at age 8 and started shooting professionally at 13. He shoots all over the world and has flown with the U.S. military and the Israeli and Colombian air forces, as well as NATO.

Second Place, Defense

Jose Ramos is an internationally published photographer who has been documenting military aviation, in particular naval aviation, since 1988. He has flown in every U.S. Navy tactical aircraft type during carrier operations, missile exercises and various training evolutions. In 2020, he placed first in the Defense category in the Aviation Week Photo Contest.

Third Place, Defense

Jim Koepnick is an independent digital journalist specializing in aviation, sports and travel as well as street and events photography. He is also an ambassador for Sigma America lenses. Previously, Koepnick was chief photographer at the Experimental Aviation Association for 28 years, responsible for much of EAA’s air-to-air photography for its five publications. Koepnick’s images have been printed in magazines such as Life, Time, Men’s Journal and People. His advertising work includes photos for Sigma lenses, Canon cameras and Cirrus Aircraft.

First Place, Commercial

Chad Slattery’s aviation photography career began at age 12 when he borrowed his mother’s Brownie camera to shoot skyward at plastic airplane models while hunched outdoors under a glass tabletop. Slattery focuses exclusively on digital imaging, in the air and on the ground, for aerospace companies and publications across the globe. His most recent book is Inside Aviation Photography, a guide to planning and executing client assignments. His work is shown at www.chadslattery.com.

Second Place, Commercial

Marty Wolin is a freelance photographer who specializes in aviation and fires. He won first place in the Commercial category in the 2020 Aviation Week Photo Contest. Wolin has worked for Combat Camera at the former Norton AFB, California, and for Lockheed Martin as a photographer in Ontario and Palmdale, California. His work has been featured in many photography and aviation publications. In addition, Wolin has taught photography at various schools and organizations. His work is available at instagram.com/eyefolio_photography.

Third Place, Commercial

Isabelle Clarke grew up in a military family near NAS Oceana, Virginia, and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving on the USS Kearsarge. After leaving the Navy, she worked for a U.S. airline and now is employed in aircraft operations in Michigan. Most of her aviation photography centers on shooting military aircraft at air shows—especially her favorite subject, the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

First Place, Space, and First Place, Photo Illustration

Erik Kuna, based near Tampa, Florida, is a visual storyteller who brings the wonders of space to life. His passion was sparked by the historic SpaceX Falcon 9 first landing of a rocket for reuse in 2015, leading him to tell the story of space through photos. His images do not just capture moments; they try to educate and inspire, drawing viewers into the heart of space exploration. Recognized for his training, workshops and seminars worldwide, Kuna’s expertise in aerospace, aviation and astrophotography, combined his passion for teaching, make him a guide to the universe’s beauty.

Second and Third Places, Space

Ben Cooper has been photographing rocket launches for 20 years, with nearly 300 to date. After working for Aviation Week & Space Technology and SpaceflightNow 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.

First Place, General

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

Second Place, General

Marcel Mivelaz is an electrical engineer and former aerobatic pilot whose main hobby is aviation photography. He has worked in the aerospace industry for more than 25 years and is a program manager on monitoring systems mounted on all major commercial airplanes and helicopters. Mivelaz won third place in the Commercial category in the 2004 photo contest and second place in General Aviation in 2007.

Third Place, General

Bastien Otelli has been photographing since the age of 8. A freelance professional since 2014, he shoots for aerial work companies, airlines, aeronautical firms and such manufacturers as Airbus and Dassault Aviation. He also takes photographs for the French, English, German, Japanese and South Korean aviation press.

Second Place, Photo Illustration

Pablo Guillermo Anaya Barron has been involved with photography since childhood. Starting in 2004 he photographed many types of business aircraft and worked freelance for Aeropuerto Internacional del Norte in Monterrey, Mexico. He has collaborated on two books and shot photos for many air charter and fixed-base operators. He also is editor-in-chief of Pilot One Magazine and Elite Jet Magazine.

Third Place, Photo Illustration

Ashley Askew is a data analyst who projects long-term trends. Her aviation images focus on commercial aircraft, and she enjoys documenting historic or unusual flights. Askew photographed the last revenue flight of the American Airlines Super 80 and the final Delta Air Lines MD-88 operation in 2020. Her grandfather was an inspiration for supporting her interest in aviation photography.