Image of the Year 2025
© Yiding - Chen "I'm Fine"


2025 Top Images & Image of the Year from L.A. Photo Curator Submissions
Selected by Laurie Freitag
(Founder/Director L.A. Photo Curator)

"The images submitted are always so impressive and I'm so grateful to see the wide variety of styles that photographers choose to express themselves. I often feel as if I'm having a private gallery show in my living room. Thanks so much for creating these works and sharing your personal journey.

Thanks to the following jurors that worked in teams and donated their time and expertise to the yearly competitions:

Andi Campognone & Shana Nys Dambrot
Ellen Friedlander & Nancy A. Scherl
Nancy Baron & Jennifer McClure
Peter Bennett & Elizabeth Bailey

In addition to the top images of the year, I've chosen one image that stands out as Image of the Year. That image is 'I'm Fine' by Yiding-Chen.
 
This year, I felt constantly bombarded with information—images, headlines, data—often conflicting, often overwhelming, and increasingly difficult to know what to believe. It was hard to stay positive amid so much noise and uncertainty. This image rose above the rest because it holds both the weight of that barrage and something quieter beneath it: endurance. The light moves up and down through the frame, flickering like a television screen—information flashing past us, demanding attention, rarely allowing time to pause or reflect. The photographer may not have intended this reading, but art is subjective, and this is what I see. The structure is tested, yet it remains. In the end, we must hold on to what remains steady and choose hope.”

Images by the following photographers, selected for Top Images of 2025:
Yiding-Chen/I'm Fine
Jill Sutherland/Unbound
Erica Martin Kelly/After Swimming 1
Prescott Moore Lassman/White Horse
Becca Screnock/Wind Whispers
Kip Harris/Wheel Line Irrigation
Nadine Levin/Silence
Prescott Moore Lassman/Wading Toward the Storm
Laurie Peek/For Marc
Laurie Peek/For Alvin
Laurie Peek/For Hannah
Kathryn Dunlevie/The Jump
Jesse Kieffer/The Secret
Julie Wang/Soft Armor 6
Monica Marks/Living The Dystopian Life
Becca Screnock/The Great Escape
Hibiscus TV aka Kaye Freeman & Amy Kaps/No fear, Cavalier Renegade
He Haochen/Dot Matrix Identity Escape 3
Kathryn Dunlevie /Persephone
Diane Fenster /Sister Morphine #3
Nadine Levin/Escaping to a Skyline in the Clouds
Jingyi Zhang/Emei Mountain
Peter Kahn/Moonstone Beach 10.13. 24-0978
Diana Lundin/LA River Light Motion Study 4
Jane Gottlieb/Cherry Red T-bird
Gina Cholick/Selves
Ellen Jantzen/Mirage
Ellen Jantzen/Divaricate
Charles Chao-Wang/Away Way 6
Amy Kaps/And I feel fine

https://laphotocurator.com/top-images-2025-exhibition/1

L.A. Photo Curator donated 10% of artist entry fees this year to:

-The David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness (The Foundation is actively teaching TM to adults and children in countries everywhere).
 
-The Downtown Women’s Center

-The Pasadena Community Foundation (Eaton Fire Relief and Recovery)

- The Pavlove Foundation (Pediatric cancer)

- Feed the Children 

- United Way

- Storycorps

- Blind Cat Rescue

Wishing you all a peaceful 2026!"

Laurie Freitag
© 2015 LA Photo Curator All Rights Reserved-