Leica Picture of the Year 2025: Puerto Rican Day Parade, Manhattan, New York City 1963 | Leica Picture of the Year 2025 © Joel Meyerowitz
American photographer Joel Meyerowitz (b. 1938) has been an exceptionally influential photographer since the 1960s. He helped color photography earn respect in fine art circles, and his street photography exudes unmistakable style. One of his most famous photos has been named the Leica Picture of the Year 2025.
As part of Leica’s “100 Years of Leica” celebration, Meyerowitz created a powerful motif of 100 of his finest images. In this retrospective, The Joy of Seeing, Meyerowitz included the photograph, “Puerto Rican Day Parade, Manhattan, New York 1963,” which is now the Leica Picture of the Year 2025 and will be available exclusively at Leica Galleries International as a limited edition print.
Meyerowitz is fresh off being named the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award winner at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026, so it has been a great last few weeks for the celebrated photographer.
As Leica notes, Meyerowitz’s remarkable photographic career spanning over six decades can be traced back to a very fateful 90 minutes in the early 1960s while the photographer was still working as an art director for a New York advertising agency.
Watching photographer Robert Frank capture photos with his Leica inspired Meyerowitz so much that Meyerowitz quit his job that very day, grabbed a camera, and dove headfirst into street photography. Leica notes that a Leica M2 quickly became Meyerowitz’s preferred tool, and he used it to capture New York City’s bustling streets and unique brand of chaos.
Leica Picture of the Year 2025: Puerto Rican Day Parade, Manhattan, New York City 1963 | Leica Picture of the Year 2025 © Joel Meyerowitz
“I used the parades as a way to overcome my shyness. Because the people in the crowd were absorbed by the passing show in the street, I could slip in under their gaze like a plane flying too low to be picked up on radar,” Meyerowitz recalls. “They were about the heat of the moment.”
The Puerto Rican Day Parade that Meyerowitz photographed in 1963 started just a few years prior, in 1959, and has been an annual staple in New York City ever since. Every second Sunday in June, the parade winds through the streets of Manhattan.
For Meyerowitz’s celebrated shot, he did what many great street photographers have done over the years, and blended in, captured a distinct moment, and then moved on. Meyerowitz describes street photography as an excellent means of training his photographic eye.
“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,” Meyerowitz says. Leica adds that his photo of the four women “speaks volumes about perception and spontaneity, and can still be viewed today as a document of the times.”
Portrait Joel Meyerowitz | © Joel Meyerowitz
The Leica Picture of the Year is available now at all 27 Leica Galleries worldwide. Meyerowitz, who has been a member of the Leica Hall of Fame since 2016, follows in the footsteps of many greats, including Ralph Gibson, Thomas Hooper, Elliott Erwitt, and Herlinde Koelbl. The limited edition print is made on Canson Infinity Satin 260 g/m2 paper and the photo itself is 10 x 15 inches on 15.75 x 19.69-inch paper. The print includes a signature label, edition number, and a certificate of authenticity. The print is €1,250, or about $1,455 at current exchange rates.
Image credits: © Joel Meyerowitz