Since 2021, Leica Camera AG has been awarding the Leica Picture of the Year to outstanding Leica photographers who have been inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame. To share part of this success with all Leica enthusiasts, a Leica Picture of the Year is being selected once again this year. It is exclusively available in Leica Galleries worldwide. This offers all friends of Leica the opportunity to build up a unique collection of excellent Leica photographs with the limited editions. Joel Meyerowitz’s Leica Picture of the Year now follows in the footsteps of works by Ralph Gibson, Thomas Hoepker, Elliott Erwitt and Herlinde Koelbl.
Winner 2026 Leica Picture of the Year: Graciela Iturbide
Leica Picture of the Year 2026 © Graciela Iturbide
An Exclusive Collector’s Item by the Mexican Photographer Graciela Iturbide
The 2026 Leica Picture of the Year was taken by the renowned Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide, who was inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame this year.
Iturbide’s work is deeply rooted in Latin American culture. What makes her images so unique is the interplay between documentary and spiritual representation, which is often enigmatic. The chosen Leica Picture of the Year, with its complexity and visual composition, is also a prime example of the photographer’s distinctive visual language. At the centre of the photograph “Na’ Lupe Pan” is a woman portrayed against a wall covered in bold, abstract patterns. Taken in 1986, the photograph forms part of an important series developed over a long period, exploring matriarchal structures and the everyday lives of strong indigenous women in the town of Juchitán in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. This striking black-and-white image’s power comes from the contrast between the serene portrait of the woman in a dignified pose and the dynamic background of the wall against the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
Leica Picture of the Year photographers from previous years
©Joel Meyerowitz
Joel Meyerowitz
The selected motif belongs to the photographer’s early period. Born in 1938, Meyerowitz decided spontaneously in the early 1960s to quit his job as art director at a New York ad agency and go on to discover the world as a photographer. A Leica M2 became his preferred tool for honing his visual instincts day after day and swiftly identifying perfect moments within complex everyday scenes.
© Herlinde Koelbl
Herlinde Koelbl
As a keen observer, experienced author, multifaceted artist and insightful chronicler, Koelbl, born in 1939, is one of Germany’s most important photographers. She was inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame in 2024 and honoured with an extensive exhibition at the Leica headquarters in Wetzlar. The image of flowers selected as Leica Picture of the Year forms part of her series Metamorphoses. Its theme is the beauty of the ephemeral, captured here with wonderful mystery and colourful magic.
New York City, USA 2000 © Elliott Erwitt_MAGNUM PHOTOS
Elliott Erwitt
The Leica Picture of the Year 2023 is an iconic shot by photographer Elliott Erwitt, which has also been on display in the Leica Hall of Fame exhibition at Leica Galerie Wetzlar since the Celebration of Photography. The black-and-white photograph was taken in New York City in 2000.
Thomas Hoepker
The 2022 Leica Picture of the Year is an iconic image by German photographer Thomas Hoepker, and was featured in the extensive retrospective Thomas Hoepker – Image Maker at the Ernst Leitz Museum Wetzlar. The black and white photo was taken during a road trip that Hoepker took for a few months in 1963.
Ralph Gibson
The photographer, born in Los Angeles in 1939, is one of the most important style-setting photographers of his generation. To this day, Ralph Gibson's visual language is as individual as it is timeless. Often close to the object, he brings his motifs into a fascinating interplay of abstraction and figuration.
On November 4, 2021, Leica Camera AG presented Ralph Gibson with the Leica Hall of Fame Award in Wetzlar.