"I can still remember opening the email announcing my photo "Green People" had won the 2025 KLPA Critical Eye: Portraits from the Street competition.  I read and re-read the message several times to make sure my eyes were deceiving me.  While I have been a finalist in international street photography contests before, I have never won top honors at a juried competition before.  The news, along with the generous cash prize and residency offer, seemed almost too good to be true.  A year later, I am still in disbelief. 

As photographers, we hope that our vision of the world around us will resonate deeply with others the way it does with us.  We click the shutter button to memorialize a split second that moves us in some inexplicable way.  In its fullest expression, art is meant to be a shared human experience.  There's a certain joy in knowing others are simpatico. That an audience halfway around the world from me would get to experience the odd beauty of a glaring, green-faced cosplayer in New York City meant so much to me.  I still marvel to think that my photo was enlarged to cover the entryway of the exhibition venue and graced the cover of the festival program.

I only wish that I could have been there in person to see the other finalists' work in print and to participate in the festival (a workshop with the legendary Tatsuo Suzuki? - bonkers!).  It's clear the KLPA planning team invested so much thoughtfulness and effort into putting together an inspiring weekend.  They, alongside the esteemed judging panel, are true champions of photography and the artistic community.  Without a doubt, the 2026 competition and festival will be one to anticipate."

~ Judy Krasinski USA 1st Place KLPA2025