BLACK & WHITE INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY ANDREA MODICA

Andrea Modica is an American photographer, Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Photography at Drexel University, celebrated for her intimate, emotionally resonant black & white images that explore vulnerability, memory and the complexity of human relationships.

Working exclusively in platinum, making contact prints from 8×10″ negatives, her photographs – whether on the topic of Catholic school girls, minor league baseball, horse clinics or smalltown family life – are marked by a quiet intensity and deep psychological presence. Her work is held in major museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Her influential books are widely regarded as landmark contributions to contemporary photographic portraiture.

Black & white lies at the core of Modica’s practice – not as a stylistic choice, but as a means of distilling emotion, form and connection. Her sustained engagement with the medium’s expressive possibilities makes her a perfect judge for a theme dedicated to black & white.

IMAGES © ANDREA MODICA

TRAVEL INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY MICHAEL YAMASHITA

Michael Yamashita is an American–Japanese visual storyteller and National Geographic regular, whose career spans more than four decades and six continents. He combines deep cultural insight, historical awareness and aesthetic sensibility to portray people, places and landscapes with nuance and respect.

Born in San Francisco and raised in New Jersey, Yamashita travelled to Japan after college, immersing himself in Asian languages and culture – a formative period that inspired a lifelong passion for exploring distant lands. Over the years he has produced dozens of stories, covering regions from the Tibetan Plateau and the Mekong River to remote villages, historic trade routes and natural wonders around the world.

A TED-X speaker, sought-after lecturer, and instructor at photo workshops, universities, and conferences worldwide, he is both a passionate photographer and ambassador for the medium, garnering him awards from institutions such as Pictures of the Year, the New York Art Directors Club, and the Asian American Journalists Association. Yamashita’s work he reveals how geography, history and humanity intersect, combining an experienced eye, a strong narrative instinct, and an insatiable wanderlust.

IMAGES © MICHAEL YAMASHITA

YOUTH INSPIRATIONAL GALLERY

COMPETITION JUDGED BY MATTHIEU PALEY

Matthieu Paley is a French documentary photographer whose work explores identity, belief and belonging across some of the world’s most remote regions. Known for his immersive, long-term approach, he lives and travels alongside the communities he photographs, gaining rare access to moments of transition and coming of age.

Paley has worked extensively across Central and South Asia, documenting youth within cultural, religious and political frameworks that shape their lives. His work has been published widely, including in National Geographic, and has been recognised with major international awards such as World Press Photo and Pictures of the Year International.

Whether in Mongolia, Afghanistan, China, India or Sri Lanka, youth sits at the heart of Paley’s practice — not as a demographic, but as a formative stage marked by change, curiosity and tension between tradition and modernity. His ability to portray young lives with nuance, respect and depth makes him a thoughtful and authoritative judge for a theme devoted to youth.

IMAGES © MATTHIEU PALEY