

Seeking the New Photographic Portrait
The fourth annual LensCulture Portrait Awards strive to discover the best and most interesting portrait photography from all over the world. We’re eager to see innovative new approaches as well as stunning traditional work — from quirky self-portraits to creative portrayals of family, friends, groups and ordinary people in diverse cultures around the planet. These Awards are open to all people and all interpretations of portraiture. Whether made in a studio with professional lighting, or on the run with a smartphone, portraits are clearly the most popular form of photography today. Have you taken a great portrait? If so, we want to see it!
Drawing from the best and brightest in the photographic community, our international jury is on the lookout for a fresh vision of the photographic portrait. Six Winners, eight Jurors’ Picks, 25 Finalists and five Student Spotlights will be selected for awards and benefits including international festival projections, exposure to our audience of over 2.5 million, and so much more.
PORTRAIT AWARDS INTERNATIONAL JURY 2017

White
Susan White has been the photography director of Vanity Fair magazine for more than 20 years. Throughout her tenure, she has worked with many of the industry’s leading photographers, covering a wide array of subject matter. During this time, Vanity Fair received numerous nominations and awards in the photography category from the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Society of Publication Designers. In 2005, Susan was named “Photo Editor of the Year” at the Lucie Awards.

Prodger
Phillip Prodger, Ph.D. (Cantab.) is Head of Photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London, where he oversees acquisitions, research, loan and display of photographs from the 19th century to the present. Prodger has held several curatorial posts including at the Saint Louis Art Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Peabody Essex Museum, where he was founding Curator of Photography. The curator of numerous exhibitions worldwide and the author and editor of fourteen books and catalogues, his writings on art and photography have been translated into nine languages. He is the curator, most recently, of “William Eggleston Portraits”, which made numerous ‘best of’ lists.

Pastore
Jennifer Pastore is the photography director of WSJ. The Wall Street Journal Magazine. Previously, she has worked as a photo editor for various magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. Jennifer teaches in the BFA photography program of The School of Visual Arts and her work has been recognized by American Photography, ASME, SPD, Graphis, PDN and the Society of Newspaper Design. Jennifer holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Florida.

Johnson
Whitney C. Johnson is the Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic. Before joining the Society in 2015, she was the Director of Photography at The New Yorker where she oversaw the photographic vision for the magazine in print, on the iPad, and at newyorker.com. Prior to that she worked at the Open Society Foundations. She has taught at Columbia University’s School of Journalism, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and the International Center of Photography.
She is on the board of the W. Eugene Smith Fund, the Photojournalism Advisory Council for the Alexia Foundation, and the Advisory Committee for the Magnum Foundation’s Emergency Fund.

Hido
Todd Hido is a San Francisco Bay Area-based artist whose work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times Magazine, Eyemazing, Wired, Elephant, FOAM, and Vanity Fair. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Getty, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the de Young, the Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Pier 24 Photography, as well as in many other public and private collections. He has over a dozen published books; his monograph titled Excerpts from Silver Meadows was released in 2013, along with an innovative b-sides box set designed to function as a companion piece to his award-winning monograph in 2014. Aperture published his mid-career survey in 2016.

Rogers
Fiona Rogers is the Global Business Development Manager at Magnum Photos International. Fiona is also the founder of Firecracker, a platform supporting female photographers. In 2012, Firecracker launched an annual grant, offered to photographers to complete a long-term documentary photography project. Fiona has a strong interest in emerging photographers and has participated in international platforms such as Recontres D’Arles, Format Festival and the Singapore International Photography Festival. She has participated as a judge for several notable competitions including the Mack First Book Award and the Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography.

Fussell
Genevieve Fussell is a Senior Photo Editor at The New Yorker where she commissions and produces a range of photography for the magazine as well as contributing weekly to Photo Booth, The New Yorker’s daily photography blog. Before joining The New Yorker, she worked as the archivist for VII Photo, the international collective of photojournalists based in New York and Paris. She holds a degree in journalism from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo as well as having studied photography at California College of the Arts.

Casper
Jim Casper is the editor-in-chief of LensCulture, one of the leading online destinations to discover contemporary photography from around the world. As an active member in the contemporary photography world, Casper organizes annual international photography events, travels around the world to meet with photographers and review their portfolios, curates art exhibitions, writes about photography and culture, lectures, conducts workshops, serves as an international juror and nominator for key awards, and is an advisor to arts and education organizations. He serves on the board of directors at SPE, the Society for Photographic Education, the world’s largest association of photography educators.
It’s one thing to make the photographs, but to get those pictures in a forum to motivate change: that’s the most important thing. It’s not about me, it’s about getting my subjects’ voices heard...So to win an award from LensCulture—to be on this platform with millions of viewers—no one could ask for something better than that.
Awards
Series Award
1st Place: $5000
2nd Place: $2000
3rd Place: $1000
Single Image Award
1st Place: $3500
2nd Place: $1500
3rd Place: $1000
Jurors’ Picks
Each juror will select one photographer to receive a $1,000 Juror’s Pick Award.
Finalists
25 Finalists will be selected.
Student Spotlight
5 student photographers will be selected by our international jury to receive the Student Spotlight Award. We believe that the best form of learning comes through experience, so we’ve created an opportunity for students to access creative and professional development, as well as opportunities for international exposure, while still in school!

Showcase your work with a FREE Portfolio Account
Get a FREE LensCulture Portfolio Account when you submit five+ images or a series to the Portrait Awards! You’ll save money and countless hours updating your web site with our professional presentation of your profile and work. Our new photo viewer offers a stunning, full-screen display of your photos plus support for an unlimited number of projects. Join the world’s largest community of contemporary photographers with a global audience of over 2.5 million.
We know how important critical feedback is to fine-tuning your work, and we want you to feel as confident as possible every time you submit to a call for entry. Submit five or more images to the Portrait Awards 2017 and you qualify to receive a free Submission Review. Our expert written Submission Reviews include a personalized critique on how to make your submission stronger — what is working well and what can be improved — as well as recommendations for improving your practice and preparing your work for competitions, grants, juried exhibitions, and other calls for entries. We have over 100 trusted and qualified educators, photo editors, curators, publishers, gallerists, and other industry professionals who provide meaningful critiques and actionable feedback on your photography.
PARTICIPATE
ENGAGE
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CONNECT
We are focused on providing photographers with access to the best opportunities for exposure, recognition, and learning to help them move forward creatively and professionally. We believe every photographer who participates deserves an opportunity for global recognition AND expert feedback. The sooner you enter, the more opportunities you have to share your work and engage with the global photo community. Unlike most competitions, you can change your entry after you submit and all the way up to the deadline. So, get started today and don’t miss this opportunity.

Open to All Types of Portrait Photography
For over 10 years, LensCulture has been committed to helping photographers of all levels move forward creatively and professionally. In that time, we have heard from hundreds of photographers who were able to achieve a breatkthrough in their careers though participation in the LensCulture community. We continuously produce video interviews with these photographers to introduce you to individuals who have taken their work to the next level. Here are some of our favorites:
More Success Stories
Meet the photographers that are moving forward in their careers and gaining inspiration from the LensCulture community every day. You could be next—and we want to help you get there. Click the photographer photos to hear how their careers were impacted by winning awards.
WE RESPECT ARTIST’S RIGHTS
All photographers retain full copyrights for their own work. Period.
Winners, Jurors’ Picks and Finalists grant LensCulture limited, restricted use of winning photos only to promote the photographers themselves and in connection with marketing LensCulture Awards competitions. LensCulture editors will select and feature hundreds (but not all) of submissions during the competition in our online gallery and social media albums (always with copyright credit noted for each participating photographer).
Details can be found in the Competition rules.
