Jury Member – 6th Edition of the CENIE Photography Contest
There are figures who not only take part in the history of photography — they make it possible.
José Luis Amores belongs to that generation of visionaries who have built, through cultural management, the spaces where images can breathe. His name is linked to the creation of EFTI – International Center of Photography and Cinema, which he founded in 1986 and directed for nearly four decades, turning it into one of the leading centers of contemporary photography in Spain and Europe.
From that platform — a laboratory of talent, thought, and visual creation — Amores has fostered entire generations of photographers, curators, and visual artists. His legacy is measured not only in exhibitions but also in encounters, projects, and careers that found in EFTI the starting point for a life devoted to image.
A Driver of Visual Culture
Cultural manager, curator, and editor, José Luis Amores has been behind more than 300 photographic exhibitions, many of them decisive in shaping the Spanish and international scene. Under his direction, EFTI and Eufoto — his current area of work in education and culture — have presented works by artists such as Sebastião Salgado, Paolo Pellegrin, Alberto García-Alix, Robert Doisneau, Steve McCurry, Isabel Muñoz, Gervasio Sánchez, Julia Margaret Cameron, Ouka Leele, and Chema Madoz, among many others.
Each exhibition has been a way of weaving community. Of opening windows onto different worlds. Of proving that photography, more than an art form, is a conversation between those who look and those who are looked at.
In addition to his exhibition work, Amores has participated in juries, festivals, and grant programs in more than fifty calls — including those organized by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Culture, FNAC, the National Museum of Anthropology, the PhotoEspaña Festival, the Biodiversity Foundation, the Alliance Française, the Albarracín Photography Seminar, and the CENIE Photography Contest itself, among many others.
His presence in each of these initiatives guarantees an experienced gaze, capable of recognizing not only technique or composition but also intention — what an image seeks to express, and what it manages to move within us.
The Commitment of a Life Devoted to Photography
José Luis Amores is not a photographer who expresses himself through the camera, but through management, pedagogy, and the creation of contexts. His art lies in bringing gazes together — connecting great names in photography with the public, and emerging talents with opportunities to grow.
Under his direction, EFTI became an international benchmark for learning and visual experimentation. There, photographers have been trained who today exhibit in major museums around the world, proving that artistic education, when grounded in excellence and curiosity, can transform lives.
His participation as a jury member in the 6th Edition of the CENIE Photography Contest represents the consolidation of a long-standing relationship with this competition. It is also a gesture of coherence — from someone who has always defended photography as a plural, free, and deeply human language.
Photography as a Space for Encounter
Within the framework of this year’s edition — under the theme Age Does Not Define Us. The Gaze Does. — the figure of Amores adds an essential dimension: that of someone who has dedicated his life to facilitating encounters between generations, styles, and sensibilities.
His vision aligns with the spirit of the contest: the idea that photography is not a matter of age, but of perspective. That experience and youth, instinct and memory, can engage in dialogue on equal terms when they share the same desire to understand the world.
An Invitation to Participate
The deadline to submit photographs is November 30. Participating is a way of joining a creative community that has been building visual culture around photography for decades.
The presence of José Luis Amores on the jury ensures the continuity of this commitment to quality, diversity, and the discovery of new voices. Because, as his career demonstrates, every image has a destiny: to be seen, shared, and remembered.
The CENIE jury — composed of leading international figures in photography, cultural management, and contemporary art — will evaluate the works with the sensitivity and rigor that characterize a contest uniting talent, thought, and emotion.
Click on the link to participate.