NASA Johnson photographers win top portrait honours at annual awards

Three photographers from NASA’s Johnson Space Center have received top honours in the portrait category at the 2025 NASA Imagery Experts Program Annual Awards. David DeHoyos, Josh Valcarcel, and Bill Stafford were recognised during the ceremony held on 20 April 2026 in Las Vegas.

Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche congratulated the photographers, stating that their work represents the collaboration, precision, and creativity that drive human space exploration forward. The honourees document the people and work central to the agency’s human spaceflight mission, covering areas from engineering tests to astronaut training and mission control operations.

DeHoyos, a Houston native born in 1963, has been with the agency’s photography department since 1991. After graduating from Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 1981, he spent a decade refining his technical craft in photo labs before joining NASA. He described the opportunity as the fulfillment of a lifelong ambition, noting that growing up during the Apollo era inspired his desire to contribute to the mission.

Valcarcel has served as a scientific photographer at Johnson since 2017, bringing over 20 years of professional experience to the role. His previous positions include staff photographer and photo editor at WIRED magazine, as well as a mass communication specialist in the U.S. Navy, where he captured stories from flight deck operations to remote Pacific island nations.

Stafford, a Texas native and 1999 graduate of East Texas A&M University, has served as a photographer and videographer for NASA since his graduation. In addition to documenting space exploration milestones, he teaches photography at the Gilruth Center. Stafford described his role as finding the small details that tell the bigger story, giving him a front-row seat to remarkable moments in history.