Photolucida Board of Directors
Peter M. Krask (President) has studied at the International Center of Photography, privately with Richard Tuschman and Carol Dragon, and in a master class with Hellen van Meene. His work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles Center of Photography, The Image Flow Gallery, and the Manifest Gallery. In New York, he has exhibited at the SoHo Photo Gallery, the Superfine Artfair, and Gallery Infinito. In addition to serving as President of the Board of Directors, he is a regular juror for Critical Mass. Krask is on the faculty of PhotoPhlo, where he leads writing workshops for artists as well as private sessions on project development. He has served as a Dedicated Mentor at the New Museum’s incubator of art, design and technology, New Inc. and also as an Expert Coach for Columbia University’s CUGrow program. He is on the faculty of the Paris-based International School of Management and serves on the Board of Visitors for the School of Music at the University of Maryland. Krask is the Founder and Creative Director of The Creativity Guide which was launched in 2019. He holds a Master’s Degree in Critical Studies from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
Stu Levy (Treasurer) is a photographer living in Portland, Oregon. He has led photography workshops on the Oregon Coast for over 30 years. He studied with Ansel Adams and was an assistant instructor for Ansel’s workshops in Yosemite and Carmel; he was also an instructor at the Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops. His photographs are in many public and private collections, including The Center for Creative Photography, the George Eastman House, the Portland Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art (Atlanta), the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Francisco Civic Center, Portland Visual Chronicle and the Wilson Centre for Photography. He was one of the founders of the Photography Council of the Portland Art Museum and was the Council President from 2003 to 2006.
Maura Allen (Secretary) has been photographing the American West for over two decades. She shows and sells her work as a fine art photographer and mixed media artist. Growing up in Northern California, Maura earned her BA in Latin/Classical Studies at Stanford University, studying how iconic figures, myths, and moments define a culture. When she began photographing the American West with ranchers and wranglers as her trusted guides, she realized many of the same cultural forces were at play. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of Photolucida, Maura serves on the Board of Trustees of the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, AZ. When not on the road, Maura lives in the Williamson Valley (AZ).
Zsolt Bátori is a curator, photographer, photography theorist, philosopher of art, and educator. He is the founder, director, and curator of PH21 Gallery Barcelona (formerly Budapest), which for over a decade has presented international solo and group exhibitions in Barcelona and Budapest, and in partnership with galleries in Rome and Jersey City. Through PH21, he has supported and advanced the careers of numerous photographers. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from Rutgers University and has taught and conducted research in Hungary, the United States, Argentina, and Spain. His own photographic work has been exhibited internationally.
Alexa Becker is a freelance consultant and editor who advises and coaches photographers across all aspects of their practice. She spent more than a decade at the German photography and art book publisher Kehrer Verlag, gaining deep expertise in photobook design, production, and publishing PR and marketing, and continues to work with international publishers as a freelancer. Since 2008, Becker has reviewed portfolios at major international festivals including Photolucida, FotoFest, and the Rencontres d’Arles; served on competition juries; and led workshops on books and publishing. A member of the German Society for Photography (DGPh), she served on the jury of the Deutscher Fotobuchpreis in 2023 and 2025 and has been a regular Critical Mass reviewer since 2010.
Mary Bisbee-Beek has worked in book publishing for more than 40 years, with additional experience as a photo archivist at the Oakland Museum and as director of the Cartoon Art Museum in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a book publicist, she represents photographers, poets, literary novelists, and creative nonfiction authors. Through her Read/See office, she also offers Publishing Sherpa services, guiding authors and photographers in clarifying audience, identifying publishers, and shaping strategic next steps for publication projects. Her professional network and publishing contacts extend globally, supporting clients across a wide range of creative disciplines.
Harris Fogel is an independent curator, gallerist, scholar, author, photographer, and journalist. He has curated, directed, and organized more than 275 photography exhibitions. Fogel previously served as Associate Professor of Photography and as director and curator of two photography galleries—the Sol Mednick Gallery and Gallery 1401 of Photography, which he founded in 1999—at the former University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he also led the Photography Program and chaired the Media Arts Department. A documentary and fine-art photographer, his work appears in major museum collections in the United States and Europe, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the International Center of Photography.
Borbála Jász is a curator, art historian, philosopher of art, and educator. She serves as vice-director and curator of PH21 Gallery Barcelona, formerly in Budapest, where she creates international exhibition and career opportunities for photographers worldwide. She earned a PhD in Philosophy and Art History from Eötvös Loránd University and is pursuing a second doctorate in Aesthetics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Her scholarship emphasizes the cultural, historical, and conceptual contexts of photography. She also brings extensive experience working with collectors, with deep knowledge of the artistic, legal, and practical dimensions of collections. She supports artists with insight globally.
Caleb Cain Marcus is the creative director of Luminosity Lab, where he transforms cultural ideas into books that shape and preserve legacies. He collaborates with museums, publishers, curators, and artists to develop creative strategies that translate scholarship, exhibitions, and ideas into lasting publications with cultural impact. His notable projects include Carrie Mae Weems: Varying Shades of Brown for Brown University, praised by Cent Magazine as “a sculptural object,” as well as Taking Care: Black Angels of Sea View Hospital for the Staten Island Museum and New York Home: Now for the Museum of the City of New York. His design work has been recognized by AIGA, the Red Dot Design Award, Communication Arts, and the Tokyo Type Directors Club.
Rachael Nusbaum has been a photography lover since she took her first photo class as a high school freshman in NYC. After that, the local art scene opened up to her, and she was inspired to capture the street life around her. She holds an undergraduate degree in studio art from Wesleyan and an MFA from Stanford. She then taught photography at UC Berkeley, including courses in alternative processes and large-format photography. After years of curating shows and organizing programs in galleries and museums, including Vision Gallery and The Legion of Honor, she ran the North America office of Lonely Planet Images, a travel stock photo agency. She currently works for Yummly, a cooking website, where she art directs amazing food photographers and videographers and also shoots her own work for publication on the site.
Photolucida Staff
Polly Gaillard has spent most of her career in the arts, specifically photography. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Polly taught college photography courses for 12 years, including summers abroad, teaching for American Universities in Prague and Italy. As a fine art photographer, she’s participated in national portfolio reviews, published an artist book, and has exhibited her work nationally in group and solo shows. Polly has juried exhibitions and has written extensively about photography and photographers – she understands being behind the camera, the long slog of a personal project, and the feeling of vulnerability that may come from putting your work out there in a crowded world. In 2023, Polly became Photolucida’s Program Director, heading up its legendary Critical Mass international photography competition.
Photolucida Advisory Council
Alyssa Coppelman, Elizabeth Flinsch, Paul Kopeikin, Geoffrey Koslov
