Friday, November 13, 2026
The Long Island Arts Council at Freeport awarded several local photographers during its 46th Annual Juried Photography Show. Lynbrook resident Laura Toledo won Best in Show for her piece “Looking Up Guggenheim Bilbao.”
The reception for Arts Council’s photography show was held at the Freeport Memorial Library on Nov. 5, featuring the works of the participating photographers. Alex Ferrone, an aerial photographer based on Long Island’s North Fork, served as the juror for all the submitted images.
Toledo was a teacher in New York City for years before her retirement in 2018. While she was teaching she began taking several international trips to her native Argentina, as well as nations in Africa, South America and Europe, and took up photography as a way to store some of her experiences.
“I like to bring images from the places that I go to share with the people that cannot come with me,” she said. “I was a teacher and I traveled and I brought photos. That was like my souvenirs from the trips.”
Toledo said that once she retired, she began taking photography classes at Nassau Community College, which further propelled her interest in doing more artistic photography. From there, she continued to travel, finding beauty in many of the world’s unique structures and communities. Her winning image at the Juried Photography Show was taken in Bilbao, Spain.
She has since joined different art associations in Nassau County and has been featured in other photography shows, including one at the Oceanside Library last month that had 49 photos she captured.
Out of the 16 photo exhibitors who participated, four earned awards and five were named as honorable mentions. After Toledo’s piece, Susan Tiffen’s “White Spirit” earned second place and Roxana Gheoghe was given third place for her “Adapted Order.”
Alan Wieder’s “Cobra Gypsy Teen Goat Herder” received the Fabian Adler Memorial Award, which was established in 2005 by friends and family of Adler to acknowledge excellence in photography. This award specifically considers photos that involve foreign cultures, interesting topography or architecture. Toledo won this award in 2024.
In an official notice about the Juried Photography Show, Freeport Mayor Robert T. Kennedy applauded the works of the featured artists and the work of Ferrone.
“The Village of Freeport is proud to celebrate and support the Long Island Arts Council’s ongoing commitment to enriching our community through art, culture and education,” he wrote. “We wish continued success and look forward to many more years of inspiring creative expression.”
