/ 2025 / Portraiture / Culture

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Joseph Voigts, United States
• Date of Photograph
  November 27, 2024
• Website
  https://www.joevoigts.com/photographer
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/joe.voigts/

One change I've seen in the twenty years since I first lived in China is that domestic tourists now flock to have their portraits taken in traditional clothing, like this woman outside the Forbidden City in Beijing who persisted despite the frigid winter winds.

Photographing the 80 countries I have visited has helped me instill empathy as a university English teacher in places like Bangladesh, South Korea, Israel, the U.S., Spain, and Morocco. Currently, I teach at a university in China, where I share the portraits and stories of the incredible people and places I have encountered around the world who have changed my life.