SURF in global competition for best big physics photo
Three photographers who took part in the Global Physics Photowalk at SURF are now in the running for the top particle physics photos of the year. Public voting begins on Jan. 13 for the Interactions Global Physics Photowalk.
This past fall SURF announced the local winners of the 2025 Photowalk, held at the facility in July and August. Images captured at SURF are now being judged against submissions from laboratories and institutions around the world. The global competition includes submissions from across the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe.
Those interested in voting for the best big physics photo can do so here through Jan. 27, 2026: https://www.interactions.org/photowalk-voting.
SURF submissions to the global competition include:
- Adam Tomjack’s photo, titled Ex Profundo, Scientia, captures a person shining a headlamp on the wall of the recently excavated SURF expansion drift. This drift is the first phase of SURF’s plan to meet the global need for more underground research space that can house future generations of science.
- Josue R. Laboy’s photo, titled From Beam to Nucleus, explores one part of the CASPAR particle accelerator at SURF. CASPAR recreates the conditions inside stars and helps researchers study the processes by which elements are forged.
- Riley Singer’s photo, titled One man, Many hands, shows a person inside one of the drifts used to access the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). A complex set of pipes and cables line the ceiling and walls as the space is made ready to host this massive world-class experiment.
Throughout 2025, 16 science laboratories across Asia, Europe and North America invited photographers to take part in a photowalk—a rare opportunity to visit and photograph physics facilities from behind the scenes. The Global Physics Photowalk is a collection of 48 winning photos, three from each individual Photowalk, capturing moments that tell compelling stories through the lens. From breathtaking underground landscapes to intimate portraits of machinery used in big experiments, the selected images showcase the creativity and technical skill of both amateur and professional photographers.
The Global Physics Photowalk is organized by the Interactions Collaboration, an international network of particle physics institutions. This is the third Photowalk hosted by Interactions. Past Photowalks were carried out in 2015 and 2018.
"We are thrilled to invite the public to help judge this international competition showcasing physics experiments from around the world," said Peter Genzer, co-chair of the Interactions Collaboration and manager of the Media & Communications Office at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory. "Each of these 48 photographs offers a unique window into different cultures, environments, and human experiences. We invite everyone to view these remarkable images and help us select the winners."
Along with public voting, an international panel of judges including an experimental physicist, a professional photographer, and a science communicator will also select their top three photos from the 48 winners of local Photowalks. Winners will be announced at the same time as the public vote winners.
Global winners will be announced on Feb. 12 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, where they will also be displayed for the first time. A selection of the winning photos will also be published in the CERN Courier.
The Global Physics Photowalk 2025 attracted more than 500 submissions from more than 100 photographers representing diverse backgrounds and styles.
For more information about the competition, to view the photographs, or to cast your vote, please visit the Global Physics Photowalk 2025 website at Interactions.org.
Follow the Photowalk on social media with #PhysPics25.
The Interactions Collaboration
The Interactions Collaboration (Interactions.org) seeks to support the international science of particle physics and to set visible footprints for peaceful collaboration across all borders. The www.interactions.org/photowalk website was developed and is jointly maintained by the Interactions Collaboration, whose members represent the world's particle physics laboratories and institutions in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, with funding provided by science funding agencies from many nations.
