PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE
PORTFOLIO REVIEWS
Sunday 25.10.2026
Time : 11:00 am - 13:30 pm
Venue : GMBB Kuala Lumpur GM5-13, Level 5
Registration essential due to limited slots.
Each slot is 20 minutes and run back to back with 5 minutes intervals.
Photographers may select their reviewer choices - allocations are 'first come' basis.
Portfolio reviews are an invaluable part of any photographer's developmental path. It can provide insight and guidance in our practice and projects through constructive critiques and feedback which we may not have the opportunity to receive in our busy schedules. These sessions are essential for career advancement, offering opportunities to secure exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and professional networking.
KLPA makes this available to the local photo community during PhotoWeek 2026 with specially selected reviewers in various genre specialities. This is an opportunity to be seized on.
How to prepare your portfolios for attending reviews
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Study the reviewers profiles and decide which reviewer is most suited to your work in terms of industry representation, genre or expertise.
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Prepare 1 or 2 projects with 15 to 20 prints for each. Be prepared to only show one project within the time slot. Show your best images and coherent to the theme of your project. Do not show your best or favourite personal images from your archives.
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Industry practice is to show your work as loose prints - A5 or A4 is practical and do not require exhibition quality finishing, or mounting.
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Present a name card with your contact information, social media links and website are important.
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Introduce yourself and your photography background initially and explain your project briefly. Keep in mind the time of the session.
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Do take notes and be prepared to receive advise, directions or critique.
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Do not take negative critique personally, but recognise the value of each reviewer's guidance.
Registration fees
Each session is 20 minutes with a 5 minute interval between the next session.
1 session/reviewer MYR 50.00
3 sessions/reviewers MYR140.00
REVIEWERS PROFILES
K. Azril Ismail
K. Azril Ismail is an independent researcher, photo historical practitioner and artist based in Malaysia, working across nineteenth-century alternative photographic processes, colonial archival recovery and Malaysian prison graffiti studies.
His practice includes Live Animals Inside: Pudu Jail's Graffiti and the ongoing FIXED project, which examines colonial archival mechanics through a recovered cache of nineteenth-century glass plate mugshots.
He completed a PhD from the Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth in 2015.
He was former Deputy Rector of Academic Affairs at ASWARA (National Academy of Arts, Heritage and Culture), Senior Adjunct Lecturer and De Institute of Creative Arts & Design, UCSI University, Kuala Lumpur. and the writer for the Malaysian Quality Agency.
Hideko Kataoka
Hideko Kataoka is a photo editor and curator and was appointed director of photography at Newsweek Japan in 2001. In 2004, she created the 'Picture Power' section, a weekly photo essay capturing underreported topics from around the world, which has surpassed its 1,000th installment and celebrated its 22nd anniversary.
She has been a lecturer in photojournalism and documentary photography at Tokyo Polytechnic University since 2013 and a member of the External Review Committee at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum since 2016. She participates in portfolio reviews regularly and has served as a juror at international photography festivals and competitions, including Visa pour l'image, W. Eugene Smith Grant, and World Press Photo, where she has served on the jury three times, most recently as the Asia regional jury chair. Hideko is also the founder and director of Miiraii Creative.
Steven Lee
Steven Lee is the founder director of Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards (KLPA). Since 2009, KLPA has been recognising and rewarding top international portrait photographers through it’s open calls, focussing on the best in contemporary portrait photography.
Steven is also the co-founder of Exposure Plus Photo Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Since 2016 he has participated as a regular portfolio reviewer several international festivals including Mt.Rokko International Photography Festival in Kobe, Auckland Festival of Photography, Photolux, IWPA, FORMAT, UPPA, Yakushima Photography Festival and recently at Karuizawa Foto Fest in Japan Steven is also a nominator for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award since 2020 and World Press Photo 6X6 Global Talent in 2018, and more recently for the Deloitte Photo Grant 2025 and the Prix Pictet for 2026/7.
Steven has also been a juror for EarthPhoto, Romano Cagnoni Award and POY Asia in recent years.
Steven began his career as a photographer specialising in fashion, portraiture and travel documentary and spends his time between London and Kuala Lumpur and runs photography workshops in professional personal development.
Eiffel Chong
Eiffel Chong is an award winning artist, photographer and educator from Malaysia.
He graduated with an MA in International Contemporary Art and Design Practice from the University of East London and a BA (Hons) in Photography from London College of Communication.
His work has been published and exhibited worldwide and is held in the collections of Singapore Art Museum and CIMB Group in Malaysia. He has served as juror with KLPA in recent years and facilitated workshops and discussion events at Exposure Plus Photo Festival.
His project explores the abstract concepts of life and death through the banal details, silent landscapes and curious obsessions he observes from daily life. He is interested in how the photographic medium can translate a particular time and space, memories and thoughts into something permanent. He personally thinks that the images say more with less, and makes one just want to stare and think about it.
Smita Sharma
Smita Sharma is a Delhi based photojournalist, visual storyteller and speaker focusing on human rights, gender, social and environmental issues in the Global South. A TED and IWMF fellow, she is a National Geographic photographer whose work on trafficking earned her the Amnesty International Media Award (UK) and the Fetisov Journalism Award (Switzerland). Her book We Cry In Silence won the POY International Award of Excellence and the 2023 Lucie Photo Book Prize.
She works on commission for The New York Times, WSJ,TIME, Human Rights Watch, The Nature Conservancy and more, and has exhibited globally, including at the UN headquarters in New York and Geneva, Xposure Photo Festival, Photoville, IPF amongst many others.She has taught at the International Center of Photography, New York, NYU, Foundry Photojournalism workshop and also serves as a jury member to grants and awards worldwide, including the Art Works Projects (Chicago), The Nature Conservancy (US), The Everyday Projects, The Indian Photo Festival amongst many others. Her honours include Indian of the Year 2017, Exceptional Women of Excellence 2018, One World Media Award 2019, Gender Warrior Award 2022, Las Fotos Advocacy Award 2022, and the 2025 Alexia Professional Vision Grant.
Suzanne Lee
Suzanne Lee is a Malaysian documentary photographer, filmmaker and co-founder of AltStudio. Her work spans documentary photography, editorial assignments, filmmaking and collaborations with international brands and organisations. Suzanne has worked across the region on documentary and commercial projects and has also taught photography and digital workflow at the Hong Kong University and other places.
Together with Sanjit, she was among Sony's first Global Ambassadors and continues to work closely with Leica. Through AltStudio, S&S develop visual storytelling projects for premium global brands, workshops and collaborations, while continuing to pursue their own photographic work.
They are both life time members of Panos Pictures, an elite photo agency based in London.
Sanjit Das
Sanjit Das is a photographer and photo editor with close to 30 years of experience in documentary and editorial photography. His work has taken him across South and Southeast Asia and parts of Africa, with photographs published in The New York Times, TIME, GEO, Businessweek, Smithsonian Magazine among others.
He spent eight years as a Photo Editor at Bloomberg News in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur and is currently a Contributing Photo Editor for The New York Times. Alongside his editorial work, Sanjit continues to photograph long-term documentary projects and commissioned assignments.
Sanjit is also the co-founder of AltStudio, a creative media lab in Kuala Lumpur. Together with Suzanne, he was among Sony's first Global Ambassadors and continues to work closely with Leica through photographic projects, exhibitions and workshops.