The Leica Picture of the Year was captured by Joel Meyerowitz on the fringes of the Puerto Rican Day Parade — an enduring celebration that remains a fixture in New York City’s annual parade calendar. Dating from 1963, the image portrays four women, gathered in a shop doorway on Fifth Avenue, absorbed in the process of perfecting their make-up.
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.
The motif titled “Puerto Rican Day Parade, Manhattan, New York 1963” has now been selected as Leica Picture of the Year 2025. It is part of Joel Meyerowitz’s early photographic work and will be released as a limited-edition print, available exclusively at all Leica Galleries worldwide from December 2025.
The photographer
Born in 1938, Joel Meyerowitz has been among the most influential photographers in the United States since the 1960s. His street photography shots are unmistakable, with colour playing an essential role as a design element.
In summer 2025, the Ernst Leitz Museum hosted the brilliant retrospective The Joy of Seeing, featuring 100 motifs from his body of work, and as part of Leica’s 2025 anniversary celebrations — with the motto “100 Years of Leica: Witness to the Century” — Meyerowitz was invited to curate 100 of his finest images.
This year’s Leica Picture of the Year has been chosen from that collection.
A celebration of Puerto Rican culture
Since 1959, the Puerto Rican Day Parade has been an expression of self-confidence and celebration of Puerto Rico’s rich culture and history, particularly for the millions of people of Puerto Rican descent living across the United States. Every second Sunday in June, the parade winds its way through Manhattan, drawing throngs of spectators.
Amid the parade’s pulsating hustle and bustle, Meyerowitz’s presence went completely unnoticed, allowing him to respond instinctively to the flood of impressions around him. Was it the colours of people’s clothes, their hairstyles, their shoes that caught his eye?
For him, photographing on the street became a form of visual training. As Meyerowitz explains: “One of the very first things I learned working on the street was that when the moment arrives, you simply make a picture of the moment.” The image of the four women thus speaks volumes about perception and spontaneity, and can still be viewed today as a document of the times.
Following in their footsteps
The Leica Picture of the Year is available exclusively from the 27 Leica Galleries around the world. This offers all collectors and Leica enthusiasts the opportunity to build up a unique collection of excellent Leica photographs with the limited editions.
Following in the footsteps of Ralph Gibson, Thomas Hoepker, Elliott Erwitt and Herlinde Koelbl, Joel Meyerowitz, who has been a member of the Leica Hall of Fame since 2016, now joins this prestigious group with his Leica Picture of the Year.
The photograph will be issued in a limited edition of 81 prints, available exclusively at all Leica Galleries, price: €1,250 (net).
Make a donation to help with our running costs
Did you know that Macfilos is run by five photography enthusiasts based in the UK, USA and Europe? We cover all the substantial costs of running the site, and we do not carry advertising because it spoils readers’ enjoyment. Every amount, however small, will be appreciated, and we will write to acknowledge your generosity.
This picture took a while for me to fully appreciate. Initially the fact that the fourth woman was mostly hidden behind the one on the right bothered me (yes, I’ve done those practice tasks where you try to keep a row of main elements and items in the background all from overlapping). However, the composition grew on me as I started to appreciate the triangle shape created by the three dominant women in the picture. Add to that the colours, the clothes, and the fact they look a mixture of natural and posed because they’ve seen the phitographer (they have, haven’t they? — the one in the background is looking towards him) and I can see how this is a winning choice. And it makes me both happy and nostalgic, which I think is a great part of the appeal of photography and even the cameras themselves, which many of us on here are still using decades later.
Maybe I don’t understand the selection process used here … but I don’t understand why a picture from 1963 is now, in 2025, “Picture of the Year”.
The message it sends to me is that there is was so little ‘good’ photography created in 2025, that Leica have to trawl the archives to find an image made over 60 years ago to select as their ‘best shot’.
What exactly is Leica celebrating by choosing this?
I agree that this is somewhat confusing. It is a picture chosen from the work of someone outstanding who has been inducted into the Leica Hall of Fame, in this case Joel Meyerowitz who is 87 years old this year. Previous winners have included a picture taken by Elliott Erwitt in 2000 which was Picture of the Year in 2023 and in 2022 the Picture of the Year was an image taken by Thomas Hoepker in 1963. Perhaps a more appropriate title might be ‘Leica Legacy Picture of the Year’.
As you probably already know, the main Leica photography award is the Leica Oskar Barnack Award (LOBA) which is awarded for contemporary photography in both main and newcomer categories every year. Leica supports great photography, both past and present.
William
Ref:”What exactly is Leica celebrating by choosing this?” Researching the selection criteria and past awards will explain the ‘why, how, when and who’. Imagine a copy of any, or all, past and present award winning prints, gracing a wall at a function / event, with noted Leica historians / enthusiasts explaining their significance. Especially if attendees are enjoying a glass of wine and a suitable ‘eats’ with their learned hosts. Sometimes a vintage photographic image takes time to be ‘fully’ appreciated. Not PAGB judges’ territory but very much more interesting!