Rudy Kalele, Vashti (PEOPLE 2025)

When I first met Vashti, I was impressed with her confidence and a person who was in peace with her-self. In her own words, “I don’t need to excuse or justify my self-expression with anything like a costume party, nor do I need to hide it to fit in, nor do I need to limit myself trying to fit within any tiny boxes and micro labels. I am proud of the person I have chosen to be”. The challenge was to capture an image, where the audience would immediately relate to this emotion at first glance!

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.