A photograph of an amateur volcanologist standing barefoot on the lava fields of Mount Yasur in Vanuatu has won the Portrait category in this year’s open competition. Sony World Photography Awards. Art and documentary photographer Elle Leontiev took the photo of Philip, the “barefoot volcanologist” on Tanna, a remote Pacific island about 120 miles (190 kilometers) from the main island of Efate.
“It was actually tough conditions that day. The volcano spewed a lot of ash that day, a lot of sulfur,” Leontiev told Live Science. “It was very difficult just to breathe; I was struggling. It was very windy and a lot of the ash and sulfur was just blown right at us. We actually got off the volcano because it was too dangerous to stay up there.”
Mount Yasur is a 1,184 ft (361 m) active volcano on the east side of Tanna. It has been erupting since at least 1774, according to Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Programwith regular low-to-moderate Strombolian explosions. The last period of major unrest was December 2025. Due to its frequent, moderate explosive activity, Mount Yasur is one of the most accessible Strombolian volcanoes in the world.
Philip, who was born and lives at the base of the volcano, has spent years studying and monitoring Mount Yasur. He trained with French volcanologist Thomas Boyer – but with limited access to further education and high fees, Philip has no formal qualifications.
Boyer, lab manager and chief researcher at Geolab XPa Vanuatu-based independent geological laboratory, met Philip in 2011 while visiting Yasur.
“I started teaching him things about volcanoes while he taught me how to approach Yasur and (volcano) field techniques he learned since he was a little boy,” he told LiveScience in an email. “We complemented each other from the start and have since successfully blended our two worldviews: science and Melanesian customs. … Philip has gradually played an increasingly important role locally as a knowledgeable observer of Yasur and as a bridge between the volcano, visiting scientists and the communities of Tanna.”
Due to the volcanic soil, Tanna is extremely fertile. People on the island, which has a population of around 30,000, depend on agriculture and tourism, focusing on basic needs and cultural customs. “Philip is kind of an exception to the rule in a sense that, yes, he is a scientist; he loves science,” Leontiev said.
Activity at Yasur typically consists of explosive eruptions that eject “volcanic bombs,” ash and gas from vents in the summit crater, Boyer said. It is relatively predictable, he added, and therefore controlled tourism is possible.
As a guide, Philip takes researchers and tourists up the volcano, but there has been a significant decline in visitors to Vanuatu in recent years.
“It’s pretty isolated out there now,” Leontiev said. In 2015, Tropical Cyclone Pamone of the worst Pacific storms in recorded history, severely damaged Vanuatu’s infrastructure and wiped out crops, livestock and fisheries. Tourism was also heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2024 the main domestic airline, Air Vanuatu, was put into liquidation. Then, in December 2024, the country was hit by one Earthquake with magnitude 7.3 which caused widespread destruction and affected over 80,000 people.
Vanuatu, a chain of around 80 volcanic islands, is also great risk from climate changewith extreme weather, coastal erosion, sea level rise and ocean acidification affecting resources and tourism.
Leontiev said Philip now works with the Vanuatu Meteorology & Geo-hazards Department, visiting the seismic stations on the volcano and occasionally carrying out sampling. He also works at the nearby volcano museum that Boyer set up.
“Yasur is embedded in the cultural and spiritual life of Tanna,” Boyer said. “All local communities consider it part of their identity and history, and people have lived safely around it for generations, respecting the volcano and understanding its rhythms. Philip and I tried to highlight that in our museum, that science and tradition are not at odds with each other.”
The museum, Haos Blong Volkeno, is an educational center and hub for visiting researchers. “It provides an important local base for logistics, field coordination and scientific exchange between international scientists and the local community,” Boyer said, adding that both he and Philip help visiting scientists access craters, conduct observations, and maintain and check monitoring equipment.
“On a day-to-day basis, Philip’s work is a mix of observation, mentoring and informal monitoring,” Boyer said. “Because he lives right next to the volcano, he has a continuous awareness of its behavior. This kind of long-term visual and experiential knowledge is extremely valuable to us as volcanologists, it can help (build) models and better predict future eruptions.”
The suit Philip is wearing in the photo was donated by a group of scientists visiting the volcano, Leontiev said. He walks barefoot because he always has. “(His feet are) pretty resistant to the elements,” she said. “Also his feet are so big that no shoes will fit him.” Actor Will Smith, whom Philip helped guide for the 2021 National Geographic documentary “Welcome to Earth,” had a pair of shoes custom-made for him, “but I don’t know if he wears them,” Leontiev added.
Philip’s goal is to send his son John to university to become Tanna’s first official volcanologist. John, who is of college age, is now working with Boyer to learn about volcanoes. “The passion has passed on to the next generation,” he said. “We want to help John do what Philip was unable to do formally: study science and volcanology.”
Because Vanuatu has no dedicated volcanology program, he hopes to study in New Caledonia or New Zealand. “Education in Vanuatu is limited and they also have to pay for it out of their own pocket,” Leontiev said. “That’s about $2,000 a year, which is very high.” According to the UN Urban Resilience HubThe average income for a person in Vanuatu’s capital, Port Vila, is around $350 per month.
Look at
Cinematographer Guillaume Beaudoinwho made a short film about Philip’s work after meeting him while filming volcanoes on Vanuatu’s remote islands, launched a campaign to raise funds for John’s education.
“Philip is a very good person, a very kind person,” Leontiev said, “and someone who believes a lot in his community and looks out for everyone. I think that desire to see the youth succeed and get an education is something really admirable about him and something that he strives for regardless of his circumstances. He’s also someone who hasn’t let any particular dream die in his face.”
Sony World Photography Awards 2026. Exhibition at Somerset House in London, 17 April to 4 May 2026. worldphoto.org
