Kelly Conlin discovered photography as a teenager, borrowing his father’s Kodak Retinette, building a basement darkroom and launching a small photo business. He began his professional life as a journalist before moving into the business side of magazine publishing—a career that carried him across continents. But with a briefcase in place of his camera, the world passed by in a blur of taxis, terminals, and meeting rooms.
In 2023, he returned to photography, seeking to engage with the world more slowly and deliberately—attuned to the rhythms, gestures, and atmospheres that give a place its character. Through the lens, he explores quiet dramas and fleeting movements that reveal the emotional texture of everyday life.
His work has been shown in group exhibitions across the United States, Europe, and Australia. He has received recognition in street photography from the Siena International Photography Awards, the Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3), the International Photography Awards (IPA), the Paris International Street Photo Awards (PISPA), and has been a finalist in street photography festivals in Brussels, Dublin, Rome, Istanbul, and Trieste.
Recognition
2025
Siena International Photography Awards - Commended
International Photography Awards (IPA) - Honorable Mention, Honorable Mention
Urban Photo Awards - Finalist
Monovisions Black and White Photography Awards - Honorable Mention
Photo Global Awards - Finalist
Refocus Awards, Color Photograhy - Honorable Mention
Street Macadam Street Photography Awards - Editors Pick
Rome Photo Lab "Street of the World"- Finalist
Brussels Street Photography Festival - Finalist
Dublin Street Photography Festival, DSPF- Finalist
APF International Street Photography Awards - Finalist
Black and White International Awards, Street Photography - Bronze Medal
Photographic Society of America, Monochrome - Gold Medal
2024
Booooom Photo Awards - Long List
Paris International Street Photography Awards (PISPA) - Gold Medal, Silver Medal, Bronze Medal
International Photography Awards (IPA) - 1st Place and Honorable Mention
Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) - 2nd Place, Gold Medal, Gold Medal
Lens Culture Street Photography Awards - Editors Pick
Monovisions Black & White Photography Awards - Honorable Mention, Honorable Mention
Street Photographers Foundation Awards - Editors Pick
Street Macadam Street Photography Awards - Editors Pick
Istanbul Street Photography Festival, ISPF - Finalist
2023
ND Magazine Photography Awards - Honorable Mention
Lens Culture Art Photography Awards - Editors' Pick
Photographic Society of America - Merit Award
Paris International Street Photography Awards (PISPA) -Bronze Medal
Group Exhibitions
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, On the Street, curated by Harvey Stein, September 2025
The Curated Fridge - Summer 2025 Show
Praxis Gallery -The Shadow Aspect Exhibition. August 2025
Griffin Museum of Photography - Online Members Juried Exhibition, July 2025
New York Center for Photographic Art - Street Photography Exhibition, Second Place, March 2025,
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts - Sixth Annual Juried Members Exhibition, April 2025
Street Photographers Foundation - Best of Street Photographers Foundation Exhibition at the Tehran Street Photography Festival, December 2024
Griffin Museum of Photography - Winter Solstice Exhibition, December 2024
Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts - Snapshot America: A Portrait of these United States 2024, October 2024
Plymouth Center for the Arts - 57th Annual Juried Art Show, 1st Place, Photography, September 2024
PhotoPlace Gallery - Light and Shadow, October 2024
Praxis Gallery - Streets, September 2024
A Smith Gallery - Portraits, August 2024
New York Center for Photographic Art - Colors of the Commonplace, 3rd Place, March 2024
Photo Place Gallery - Monochrome, February 2024
Praxis Gallery - Open Theme, February 2024
Paris International Street Photo Awards - "Xposure", UAE, February 2024
The Curated Fridge - 2024 Winter Show, January 2024
Photographic Resource Center - Exposure Exhibition, December 2023
Griffin Museum of Photography - Winter Solstice Exhibition, December 2023
Plymouth Center for the Arts - 56th Annual Juried Art Show, 2nd Place, Photography, September 2023
Main Street Arts - Small Works, November 2023
A Smith Gallery - Colors,December 2023
Photo Place Gallery - Poetry of the Ordinary, November 2023
Mistlin Gallery - Celebration of the Arts, October 2023
Publications
Cuba Seen Magazine - The Cuban Heart
ForoNostrum Magazine - The Awards Issue
Frayme Magazine - Street and Documentary Photography
"One of the many rewards of street photography is the connection you make--however brief--between photographer and subject. It can be explicit or implicit, a long conversation or a fleeting glance, often even surreptitious, but it results in a connection preserved. The privilege of capturing the lives around us." Havana, 2023.
