NEW YORK, NY.- The practice of photography in its extraordinary variety continually renews and reframes how we perceive the world around us, celebrating the importance of both the seasoned eye and the fresh look. This year marks two special milestones: the 35th anniversary of the founding of the International Center of Photography and the 25th anniversary of the Infinity Awards, through which ICP acknowledges some of those image-makers whose powerful visions have brought us to the present moment, as well as those who are charting new territory into the future. On the evening of Tuesday, May 12, 2009, ICP will honor the nine recipients of the 25th Annual Infinity Awards at Chelsea Piers, Pier Sixty, New York City. This year’s Infinity Awards are sponsored by the Hearst Corporation.

Lifetime Achievement Award Annie Leibovitz
Cornell Capa Award Letizia Battaglia
ICP Trustees Award Gayle G. Greenhill
Young Photographer Lieko Shiga
Writing Aveek Sen
Publication Desert Cities, Aglaia Konrad
Art Rinko Kawauchi
Photojournalism Geert van Kesteren, Baghdad Calling
Applied/Fashion/Advertising Photography Tim Walker

ICP’s ongoing mission is to present and champion the rich diversity of the photographic experience. The Infinity Awards were created to celebrate the contributions of influential photographers and emerging young talent. Each year the program brings recognition to an international array of accomplished individuals in a presentation widely recognized as the most coveted honor in photography, attracting an audience of more than 700 prominent individuals from the fashion, art, and photography worlds to celebrate the achievements of photographers from around the globe. Recipients are decided by a jury of selectors from the submissions compiled by an international nominating committee, both of whose members change each year.

The Lifetime Achievement Award and Cornell Capa Award honorees are selected by the ICP Board of Trustees, President’s Council, and senior staff. The Trustees Award is periodically given by the Board for outstanding contributions to the field.

The selection committee this year consisted of:
Charlotte Cotton, Curator and Head of the Department of Photography,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California

Deborah Martin Kao, Head Curator, Harvard Art Museum and Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Marcel Saba, Director, Redux Pictures, New York, New York

Past winners of the top awards have included Robert Frank, Mary Ellen Mark, Marc Riboud, André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Berenice Abbott, Richard Avedon, Harold Evans, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Alexander Liberman, Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt, Lee Friedlander, William Klein, Susan Meiselas, Roy de Carava, Malick Sidibé, Karl Lagerfeld, and Diane Keaton.

“Each of this year’s Infinity Award recipients,” says ICP Ehrenkranz Director Willis E. Hartshorn, “possesses a unique and deeply personal vision, and a commitment to expanding the reach of photography to a wider audience. Coming from around the globe, they allow us to experience their diverse subjects in a new and challenging light. We honor their ability to see the ordinary and the extraordinary with fresh eyes, and to impel us to do the same.”