The 25th and last Photo Münsingen

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The 25th Photo Münsingen will take place over the Ascension Day period from May 14 to 17, 2026. As always, the anniversary will feature numerous creative photo exhibitions by renowned photographers, photography clubs from Germany and abroad, interesting photo workshops, and audiovisual productions. We will announce the program at the beginning of 2026.

Unfortunately, 2026 will also be the last Photo Münsingen. Due to staffing and financial constraints, the popular photo event held in the beautiful Schlossgut grounds has been discontinued. Despite intensive efforts, we have not been able to fill vacancies in the leadership of the organizing committee and the various departments. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to retain sponsors and partners or to find new ones.

With its unique format, Photo Münsingen has attracted thousands of interested visitors year after year, both across Switzerland and beyond. We look back with pride on countless photo exhibitions and workshops, both from the photography club scene and from renowned professional photographers.

Now we are fully committed to ensuring that the 25th Photo Münsingen anniversary will be a magnificent finale with special attractions.

For further information please contact:

The winners of the photo book competition and the «U25 Photo Challenge»

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On Thursday afternoon, May 29, 2025, the winners of the photo book competition and the “U25 Photo Challenge” were announced in the Schlossgutsaal in Münsingen.

The first ten places in the photo book competition

For the third time, Photo Münsingen, together with its main sponsor Bookfactory, searched for the best, most original, or unusual photo books in Switzerland. After a preliminary selection, the jury—consisting of Brigitte Aeberhard-Baur, Sonja Berger, and Ruedi Schneiter—evaluated the ten best creations.

The jury was most impressed by Manuel C. Studer's work, entitled "The Fisherman's Mastery." The jury wrote: "A very interesting book about an ancient craft. In addition to the beautiful photographs, the photo book scores points with its cleanly designed documentation and appealing scope, as well as a wealth of information about the people depicted." The other two winners shared the top spots:

2nd place: Renato Gerussi – Urban elegance
3rd place: Richard Kunz – Through the Western USA
4th place: Gerald Hein – I wanted to see the sun again
5th place: Marcel Andrey – Finding Patschy & Friends
6th place: Matthias Notter – Gdansk?
7th–10th place: Jorge Dändliker – Along the North Sea
7th–10th Rank: Fritz Beier – tram line 8
7th–10th place: Daniel Thoma – Dreispitz in transition
7th–10th place: Doris Wepfer – Swiss Panorama

To the competition page of the 2025 photo book competition

The five winners of the “U25 Photo Challenge”

The "U25 Photo Challenge" was won by Janis Fasel. The other winners were:

2nd place: Micha Bigler
3rd place: Jamie Annina Schneider
4th place: Julia Röthlisberger
5th place: Larissa Durisch

To the competition page of the «U25 Photo Challenge» 2025

St. Gallen wins the Photo Münsingen Award 2025

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The Photo Münsingen Award 2025 goes to the photography club of the Migros St. Gallen Club School. The panel "Living Passion in Tango" received the highest score from the three-member jury.

38 photo clubs from Switzerland and neighboring countries took part in the «Photo Club Competition» and were asked to photographically capture the theme of «passion».

Dance was strongly represented

The jury, consisting of Susanna Brändli, Sandra Gygax-Zehnder, and Raymond Zurschmitten, evaluated the submitted works. The tableaux were judged on their relevance to the given theme, their composition, and their technique.

"It quickly became clear that all tableaux were submitted with consistently good quality and that the theme of dance was strongly represented," the three jurors summarize.

Elegant composition of dance and passion 

The winning tableau, "Living Passion in Tango," by the photography club of the Migros Club School in St. Gallen, showcases an elegant composition of dance and passion. The photographs are technically perfect. The color scheme, as well as the devotion, eroticism, and sensuality, impressed us. The images are stylish and have a rigorous visual statement, which we consider appropriate for tango dancing, the jury writes in the exhibition catalog.

Second place goes to EFFVAS Bern with the panel "Pipe Smoking," followed by Fotoklub Sense with "Boy's Dream." Fourth to sixth place goes to Fotoclub Blende 8, Bern ("A Touch of Andalusia"), the CAPM Club d'Activités Photo de Meyrin ("Tango"), and the Photo Club Gland ("Tango Passion").

All panels will be on display at Photo Münsingen in the Schlossgutsaal (castle estate hall). Visitors can also judge the photography clubs' work and win attractive prizes there. Six winners will be randomly selected from all submitted tickets. The grand prize will be a Nikon camera and vouchers from Foto Video Zumstein.

The theme of the «Photo Club Competition 2026»

It is already known and is: “Colours of Life”.

Continue to the photo exhibition page
Continue to the audience competition

Looking back on four wonderful photo days

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With the theme of “Music”, Photo Münsingen attracted numerous photo enthusiasts to the Aare Valley over the Ascension Days. “The combination of photography and music was very well received by the audience,” says OK President Urs Hintermann, satisfied with this year’s edition.

“We received a lot of positive feedback on the exhibitions and events surrounding our main topic,” says Hintermann. That's what they were like Mussorgsky concert on Thursday with the photographically interpreted “Pictures at an Exhibition” or the multimedia lecture “The Art of Transformation” sold out by rock star photographer Hannes Schmid.

This year, visitors once again appreciated the exchange with the photographers or were inspired by their work. Thanks to the spring weather, the open-air exhibitions in and around the Münsinger Schlossgut area could be enjoyed to the fullest - always accompanied by melodious performances.

The organizing committee thanks the more than 100 helpers as well as sponsors, patrons and partners. Among them the main sponsors Nikon, Bookfactory and Foto Video Zumstein.

Photo Münsingen 2025 will take place from May 29th to June 1st, 2025. The Photo Club Competition takes place on the theme of “Passion”.

To the picture gallery on Flickr...
To the press reports…

Photo Münsingen Award 2024 goes to Austria

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This is the second time in its history Photo Münsingen Award according to Austria. The Erste Fotoclub Lustenau impressed the jury with its tableau “The Movement of Music”. Works from Basel and Meyrin follow on podium places two and three.

“The tableau is surprising, technically sophisticated and well done,” is how the jury summarizes the work of the Erste Fotoclub Lustenau on this year’s theme “Music”. The technique in which movement sequences were consciously used supported the image content. “The composition is slightly redundant, but the same distance gives something calming to the 'moving' tableau in which the instruments 'sound',” said the jury, which also liked the warm image tone.

Second place goes to “Purple Fury” from Fotowerk Basel. The jury describes this work as “classic stage photography, solidly implemented and monochrome (purple) designed.” “Plein les Oreilles” is the name of the tableau by Club Activités Photo Meyrin (CAPM) in third place.

The jury for the photography club competition consisted of Gabi Ortner, Guy Jost and Beat Suter. The three state: “Although the topic of “music” offers a very broad spectrum, which was also visible in the submitted works, it is demanding and difficult to present.” Many of the submitted works are of a similar level. Only a few surprised in terms of execution, impact and technical quality.

A total of 50 teams submitted their work on the topic of “music”. All tableaus are on display at Photo Münsingen in the Schlossgutsaal. Visitors can also judge the photography clubs’ works there.

The competition theme for next year is already known: At the Photo Münsingen Award 2025, everything is focused on “passion”.

To the exposition…
To the public competition…

Photo Münsingen 2024: Music in focus

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The theme of “Music” is at the center of Photo Münsingen 2024: the competition for photo clubs and eleven of the 27 exhibitions are dedicated to it. You can see, among other things, rock stars, Elvis impersonators, the inner workings of musical instruments and an interpretation of the work “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. Let's take a first look at a program full of music photography!

First there is the concert photography: the well-known Swiss photographer Hannes Schmid photographed rock stars on and off stage in the 1980s. In Münsingen he shows a selection of his photographs. They not only show well-known figures, but also capture the cultural changes and gender dynamics of this time.

“Emotions on Stage” is the name of the concert photographer’s exhibition Nicole Rötheli. She is present with the camera when musicians like Hecht, Stress or Stefanie Heinzmann perform. Grant emotional looks in blues and jazz clubs Wolf-Peter Steinheisser and Vicenç Semper.

Dance, instruments and Elvis

Axel Brand focuses on the elegance of dancers in his fine art black and white photography. Charles Brooks In “Architecture in Music” he takes a fascinating look at instruments from the inside.

Graeme Oxby documents the subculture of Elvis impersonators and their stories. Students of the CAP photography school photographed on the topic of “sound colors”.

Mussorgsky reinterpreted

Two special projects make the connection between music and photography directly tangible. Seraina Marchal was commissioned to create photos for the musical piece “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. Mussorgsky composed his piano cycle in 1874 to match paintings and drawings. 150 years later, Seraina Marchal took the opposite approach for Photo Münsingen and was inspired by Mussorgsky's work. Your images will be projected alongside a piano concert played live by the pianist Martin Klopfenstein and will then be exhibited.

The versatile instrumentalist does it the other way around Wieslaw Pipczynski. He will improvise live on four series of images. Members of various photography clubs submitted the images.

The work of the photo clubs

The central component of Photo Münsingen is the competition for photo clubs. 52 photo clubs from all over Switzerland and neighboring countries took photos on the topic of “Music” and competed with their tableaux in the coveted competition «Photo Muensingen Award». These are being carried out for the second time U25 Photo Challenge and the Photo Book Contest.

In the area of ​​club photography they represent Photo clubs from Münsingen, Riedisheim and Kirchzarten Images on the topic of “movement”. Photographers from Münsingen will also present their works on the topic “Electricity and heat”.

PHOTOSUISSE shows the best and award-winning pictures from the annual competition. The award ceremony for the «Swiss Photography Championship» by PHOTOSUISSE will again take place as part of Photo Münsingen.

Animals, places and society

Other photo exhibitions are dedicated to social phenomena: Petra Angela Imhof “Cyberized” explores the relationship between people and technology. Gerardo Garciacano shows street portraits of skiers and snowboarders. Oliver Stegmann takes a look behind the circus scenes in “Circus noir”.

Andrea Knechtle captures forgotten spaces and traces of past lives in “Vestiges – The End of Something”. Unexpected urban perspectives developed Manuel Giron. Romano P. Riedo presents Polaroid images with a special depth. Markus Eichenberger was impressed by the breathtaking starry sky in the Swiss Alps.

Lorenz Andreas Fischer shows animal portraits from Africa. And Karl Schuler After all, he was traveling in the realm of the snow leopards, where he ended up meeting them.

Book a date now!

Photo Münsingen also belong to this year audiovisual productions, Lectures, Photo workshops and – in keeping with the annual theme – musical performances. Take a look at our program now and mark the Ascension Days from May 9th to 12th, 2024 in bold on your agenda!

The audience's favourites

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"Customs" was the theme of the Competition for photo clubs um den Pho­to Mün­sin­gen Award 2023. After the jury at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen that 'official' ranking announced, also had that during the four days of the exhibition audience the opportunity to vote for your favourites. Now these are counted.

The following tableaus went down best with the audience:

Photo Club Fricktal Moving tradition 562 votes
Photo club Sense CHAPEAU! 395 votes
Photo club Thun Fulfillment 325 votes
Münsingen photo club charcoal burning 300 votes
Photo club Rapperswil-Jona And tomorrow a king... 284 votes
Photo Club Lucerne fondue fun 274 votes

The competition theme for next year is already known: the Photo Münsingen Award 2024 is about “music”. Interested photo clubs can register for the competition until August 31st register.

The Photo Münsingen Award 2023 goes to Appenzell

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"Cowwalk" is the name of the winner tableau Photo Club Competition is Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2023. The Photo Club Appenzellerland convinced the three-person jury. A total of 47 teams from all over Switzerland and neighboring countries took part in the “Customs” competition.

The jury praised the "modern, striking image conception" of the winning tableau. The work plays with details and is characterized by a colorful and fresh way of presentation, she writes in the exhibition catalogue.

This year the jury consisted of Susanna Brändli, Guy Jost and Roland Steffen. "The spectrum of submitted images is large and appropriately reflects the diversity of the subject," the three judges summarized. Many works are on a similar level, only a few have dropped in terms of effect, implementation or technical quality.

Second and third places go to the Sense photo club with the tableau «CHAPEAU!» and the Fricktal photo club with «Bewegte Tradition». The Thun Photo Club («Fulehung»), the Brown Boveri Baden Camera Club («Celtic Rough Nights») and the Dietikon Amateur Photo Club («Alpabzug») follow in fourth to sixth place.

All tableaux are exhibited at Photo Münsingen in the Schlossgutsaal. There, visitors can also judge the work of the photo clubs and win nice prizes. Six winners will be drawn from all the talons submitted. Vouchers from Nikon, Foto Video Zumstein and Bookfactory are waiting for them.

The competition theme for next year is already known: the Photo Münsingen Award 2024 is about “music”.

The Photo Münsingen Award 2022 goes to Lucerne

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"Last Call" is the name of the winner tableau Photo Club Competition is Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2022. The work of the Lucerne photo team convinced the jury. 50 teams from all over Switzerland took part in the "Abstract" competition.

 "Very, very, beautiful," said Antonino Catalano about the tableau of the Photo teams Lucerne on the occasion of the vernissage. The picture was discussed in the three-person jury. «The cable in the middle is the connection between above and below. The four components on the page form a circle that holds together. And the red dot looks like the dot on the I,” Catalano describes the composition. Alongside him, Alice Lautenschlager and Anita Vozza acted as jurors.

The jury placed the photo club Münsingen with "Berner Brunnen" and the photo club Ebikon with "water colors" in second and third place. Then come the Fotoclub Fricktal (“Curved”), the Fotofreunde Oberaargau (“Indigo”) and the Fotoklub Solothurn (“Abstract”).

All panels are at the Pho­to Mün­sin­gen exhibited in the castle hall. There, visitors can also judge the work of the photo clubs and win nice prizes. Six winners will be drawn from all the talons submitted on Sunday, May 29th. Vouchers from Nikon, Foto Video Zumstein and Bookfactory are waiting for them.

Incidentally, the theme of the competition for next year is already known: the Photo Münsingen Award 2023 is about “customs”.

To the exposition…
To the visitor competition…

Competition for photo clubs 2022: the jury

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«Abstract» is the theme of the photo club competition Pho­to Mün­sin­gen 2022. On April 2nd, the jury of the competition met in Belp. Alice Lautenschlager (St. Gallen), Anita Vozza (Magglingen) and Antonino Catalano (Glis) judged the submitted tableaux.

This year, 50 teams from all over Switzerland and neighboring countries participated in the Photo Club Competition participated. Her tableaux will be on display in the Schlossgutsaal. The works contain four or five pictures of different club members.

The winners of the competition will be announced at the vernissage on May 25, 2022. Waiting for the winning club «Pho­to Mün­sin­gen Award 2022» and 500 francs, donated by the municipality of Münsingen. Ranks two through six will be rewarded with coupons from Foto Vi­deo Zum­stein rewarded.

Manfred Schär was present with the camera during the judging. His impressions are in the gallery...