There are only a few weeks left to submit your entries to the American Photography Open 2022 competition. In the meantime, we're spotlighting two more of this year’s judges. Today we meet New York based photographer and Rolling Stone photo editor Sacha Lecca, and Elizabeth Krist, a photo editor at National Geographic for 20 years who also curated the “Women of Vision” exhibition and book, taught at the International Center of Photography and received awards from the Overseas Press Club and other organizations.

As you may know, the AP Open contest is open to photographers at any level using any device. The Open Grand Prize winner will receive $5,000 and prizes from our partner sponsors.

There are a number of ways to win. In addition to the Open prizes, our partner SanDisk’s ”Share Your World” competition is open for entries. To enter the SanDisk competition, select the “Share Your World” category and follow the instructions there. The SanDisk entries will also be eligible for the Open prizes so you only have to submit an image once. You can enter both competitions as many times as you wish.

Below, Krist and Lecca talk about their influences and explain what inspires them, and what they will be looking for in entries to APO 2022.
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Elizabeth Krist

Originally from St. Louis, Elizabeth Krist studied English literature in college; her introduction to the photography industry was a summer job at educational company where she did stock photo research and assisted a photographer. She went on to work at Asia magazine in New York. “It was a small publication, but that's where I met Lynn Johnson, Steve McCurry, and Mike Yamashita, among other photographers,” she says. Her path led her to Fortune and National Geographic magazines. “I didn't dare believe I could work at National Geographic--the magazine seemed like the ultimate home base for creating visual stories. It was a wonderful photo home to me for over 20 years,” she says.

Krist cites several influences as particularly important in her distinguished career: the photo editors Alice Rose George — “a visual genius, who taught me so much about seeing,” says Krist — and Michele McNally, whom she worked with at Fortune. “She was a brilliant manager who took impressive care of the staff and understood how to navigate the management hierarchy,” Krist says. Among her mentors at National Geographic was the director of photography Tom Kennedy.

“For me, photography's power lies in its ability to pierce beneath the conscious layer of words and articulated ideas, using light and color at a physiological level to release emotion, which then saturates the scene our rational mind understands,” says Krist. She adds that in reviewing the entries to the AP Open contest, she “will be looking for that magical combination of elements I haven't come across before. The convergence of meaning with memorable visual impact. Light enhancing emotion.”
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Sacha Lecca

The son of two fashion photographers, Dan and Corina Lecca, Sacha Lecca learned about the craft and profession first-hand. “At around age 17, I started going to the fashion shows, first to assist my father and then to eventually shoot. The only advice ever given was encouragingly shouted at me as the show was about to start; ‘SHOOT WELL,’” Lecca noted in an interview with the National Press Photographers Association. Prior to graduating from New York University, Lecca landed a lob at the Guggenheim Museum as visitor experience/tour guide. In 1994 he went to work at Newsweek magazine ,and over the next six year he worked his way up to become a senior photo editor. In 2001 he left the magazine to join CMP Media, until 2007, when he was hired as deputy photo editor at Rolling Stone.

His own photography has been featured in Rolling Stone, Huck magazine, Whalebone magazine, Alt Citizen, The Photographic Journal, American Photography 36, and on various album covers. Lecca was also a judge for this year’s Abbey Road Studios Music Photography Awards

“There have been many photographers who have inspired me, including Jim Marshall and Danny Clinch. But let me highlight Ken Schles, whose books—notably Invisible City—I often refer to,” notes Lecca. “There are always new and exciting voices in this industry. It still excites and inspires me every day to examine new work. For this contest, I’m looking forward to being really stopped in my tracks by photographs. I’m looking also for authenticity, and to get a sense of the photographer’s passion and drive within each work.”