The 2025 Canadian Photographer of the Year is long-time Can Geo Photo Club member Anthony Bucci of Port McNeill, B.C. Bucci was chasing waterfalls with a friend near Campbell River, B.C. when he got the news. “I couldn’t believe it,” says Bucci. “It’s still a shocker, just because I know how many people contribute to [this competition]. To be selected is truly amazing.”

Originally from Langley, B.C., Bucci spent much of his life fishing “salmon, trouts, steelhead, sturgeon… lakes, rivers, ocean, you name it.” On these fishing adventures, Bucci would see “tons of wildlife” — owls on silent wings in the bush, bears fishing on rich fall salmon runs, wolves on the upper Chilliwack River. Around 20 years ago, fishing started to get crowded, so Bucci sold his fishing equipment and bought a camera and lens. “Ironically, when I bought that stuff and I went back to all those fishing spots, I saw nothing!” he says.

But Bucci is nothing if not determined, a virtue he prides himself on. “I’ll just keep going and going and going and going, till I’m sick of going, but I’ll keep going.”

Clearly, his persistence has paid off. One of his winning shots, featured above, comes from the narrow valley of Zeballos on Vancouver Island where, during the winter, the fog rushes in and around the mountain peaks. Bucci sat there watching Rugged Mountain for hours, waiting for the perfect thickness of fog. “I’ve got to make sure everything’s perfect. If I don’t like it, I don’t take a picture,” he says. “It’s got to be special.”

Flora, Fauna and Fungi 

Winner: Eli Wolpin

A candy stripe shrimp shelters from predators among the stinging tentacles of a crimson anemone. The photographer made several dives to the same anemone in B.C.’s Howe Sound over a period of weeks to capture this shot.

Runner-up: Cari Siebrits

A family of river otters pauses for a brief moment on train tracks in West Vancouver before scurrying back to the safety of Burrard Inlet. “In the brief moment they stopped to glance back at me and the other onlookers, it felt like they existed between two worlds — our human world and their wild one,” says the photographer. 

Honourable mention: Stephen Shikaze

As the first light cuts through the morning mist in Alberta’s Foothills County, a pair of cougar cubs follow closely behind their mother through a mossy spruce bog forest.

Honourable mention: Kristian Wolowidnyk

A bighorn sheep pauses to bask in a sun ray while wandering with its herd through the forest near Lake Minnewanka in Banff National Park, Alta.

Epic Landscapes

Winner: Ash Voykin

The last light of day falls across Monica Meadows and the Horseshoe Glacier in the Purcell Mountains of the West Kootenay region in southeastern British Columbia.

Runner-up: Safayaat Ul Alam

Low tide on the St. Lawrence River reveals the carved wooden figures of “Le Grand Rassemblement” (The Big Gathering), an art installation by Marcel Gagnon at Sainte-Flavie, Que. At high tide, the sculptures are swallowed by the waves.

Honourable mention: Peter Robinson

A brief break in the early morning fog reveals the downtown Vancouver skyline, as seen from Cypress Lookout in West Vancouver.

Honourable mention: Samuel Choy

While flying in a helicopter over downtown Vancouver, the photographer captured the iconic geodesic dome that houses Science World perfectly aligned with Georgia Street. 

Outdoor Adventure

Winner: Will Lambert

Climber Simon Ennals rappels into an ice cave on the Dome Glacier in the heart of Jasper National Park, Alta.

Runner-up: Peter Baumgarten

A canoeist paddles along the shoreline of Mahzenazing Lake in Point Grondine Park near Killarney, Ont. on a misty September morning.

Honourable mention: Patrick Kilburn

A pair of canoeists paddles through the early morning mist on Lake of Two Rivers in Algonquin Provincial Park, Ont.

Weather, Seasons and Skies

Winner: Matt Melnyk

Lightning strikes as a severe storm tracks southeast of Calgary on a summer afternoon.

Runner-up: Shane Turgeon

The Milky Way sets over the Salmon Glacier near Stewart, B.C. This alignment of our galaxy and the dramatic icefield on the Canada-Alaska border is only visible for a short period each autumn.

Honourable mention: Monika Deviat

Comet Lemmon, which was only discovered in January 2025, made its closest approach to Earth in mid-October and was visible with the naked eye. The photographer captured the comet streaking above the iconic Peyto Lake in Banff National Park, Alta.