The Malaysian Photographer Who Finds Beauty In Vanishing Points
Malaysian photographer Tan Eng Tong has won 1st Place in the National Awards for Malaysia at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards, one of the world’s most competitive photography competitions with over 430,000 entries from more than 200 countries.
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There are photographers who chase drama — wars, weddings, wildlife.
Tan Eng Tong chases geometry.
And apparently, the world keeps rewarding him for it.
The Malaysian photographer has just taken 1st Place in the National Awards for Malaysia at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards — one of the most competitive photography competitions on the planet, drawing over 430,000 images from more than 200 countries and territories this year alone.
His winning photograph, titled “V”, was shot from the underside of a bridge, using its converging lines to pull the viewer’s eye toward a horizon where structure, water and city light blur into one.
It is, in the simplest terms, a photograph of a bridge.
And it is stunning.
Once Is Luck, Twice Is a Style
What makes this win particularly worth noting is that it isn’t his first.
Back in 2023, Tan claimed the same national title with The Jetty — a 132-second long exposure of a jetty in Desaru, Johor, where time itself seemed to dissolve into still water.
Two national wins in three years, from the same photographer, at the same prestigious competition.
That’s not luck, that’s a signature.
Look at both images side by side, and a clear artistic identity emerges — one built around infrastructure, water, patience, and light.
Where the Journey Ends — and Begins
Where other photographers find their stories in faces and moments, Tan finds his in the spaces between things: the underside of a bridge, the end of a jetty, the point where the man-made world meets something quieter and older.
The 2026 Sony World Photography Awards National and Regional winners were announced today (17 March), with winners receiving Sony digital imaging equipment.
The competition, organised by Sony and Creo in partnership with World Photography Organisation, features 10 diverse categories for photographers to enter their works, allowing for a wide range of styles and genres
Winning images will be exhibited at Somerset House in London from 17 April to 4 May — meaning one of this year’s winning photographs will soon be hanging in one of the British capital’s most storied cultural venues.
It’s a long way from the underside of a bridge to the walls of Somerset House — but then, that’s what a winning image does.
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