When everyone has a camera in their pocket, how can rising photographers stand out? The artists included in CULTURED’s 2023 list of Young Photographers have accomplished this feat in wildly different ways. From the 21-year-old photographer who published their debut monograph before graduating from college to the nonprofit manager whose madcap after-hours photo shoots earned him the attention of famous musicians, these rising talents are scrappy, introspective, courageous, and curious. We scoured the profiles of this year’s class for nuggets of wisdom about how to hone an artistic vision at the start of a career. Their experiences may be personal, but they contain lessons that apply to anyone looking to stand out in a creative field.
1. Don’t be afraid to bite the hand that feeds you. It will help you find like-minded collaborators.
“Maxwell Vice organizes queer BIPOC events; fundraises for vulnerable members of their community; posts open casting calls on Instagram for queer, first-generation models; and calls out hypocrisy in the industry circles that have become their adopted home. ‘I’ve developed a reputation online as a bit of a fashion villain, if you will,’ they say with a shrug. This bold, outsider exuberance has caught the attention of designers like Raul Lopez, Willy Chavarria, Shayne Oliver, and Telfar Clemens, who have entrusted the young polymath to iterate on their creative visions as a photographer and muse.”
—Maxwell Vice, New York, 24
2. You don’t need fancy materials to make indelible images.
“Dean Hinton graduated with a degree in marketing from Berkeley College right as the pandemic hit [New York]. Using only the materials he had—a camera, a tripod, and himself—he began taking self-portraits. Much like the self-timed Android shoots of his tween years, the result was revelatory for Hinton. ‘Those photos showed me what I know best about myself,’ he recalls, ‘that I’ve always been able to create with the bare minimum, because it’s all I’ve ever had.’”
—Dean Hinton, New York, 24
3. Remember what captivated you as a child and lean on that for inspiration.
“The Teen Vogue feature that launched Bella Newman’s career quickly blossomed into a series of Vogue photojournalism projects before she’d even finished high school, including one focused on the Amish and Mennonite cultures she grew up around. These insular communities serve as a stylistic North Star for the photographer, who has since graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in filmmaking; collaborated with brands like Burberry, Balenciaga, and Marc Jacobs; and walked for Miu Miu. ‘The Amish are incredible—they wear their homemade clothes with Oakley sunglasses and New Balance sneakers,’ she says. ‘More people should be like that.’”
—Bella Newman, New York, 24
4. When in doubt, put your ideas down on paper.
“Before Rebekah Campbell steps on a set, she has an idea—rendered in quick sketches—of the images she wants to make. ‘A little stick-figure girl on a tree branch’ is one example. Recently, these drawings have morphed into a storyboard for a short film.”
—Rebekah Campbell, New York, 30
5. Sometimes, the simplest direction can be the most effective.
“The barrier between the photographer Sam Penn and her muses is so fluid that each one appears to be staring through the camera and directly into her eyes. She readily acknowledges this effect: ‘The only real directive I ever give is, ‘Look at me.’”
—Sam Penn, New York, 24
6. Don’t be shy about getting your work out there. A big break can come from a DM.
“Alejandro Hernandez, who still works full time at the Austin Parks Foundation, isn’t shy about making sure his work gets seen—'I DM artists. I DM venues.' The photographer, who works under the name 512c0wb0y, stakes out the South by Southwest music festival annually, refining his concert photography skills and building a portfolio that includes Thundercat and PinkPantheress.”
—512c0wb0y, Austin, 27
7. Remember that weird is more interesting than beautiful.
“‘I’m less interested in looking for someone that is conventionally beautiful,’ says Bulnes. ‘To me, that’s just not as interesting. I want the weirdness. I want what feels most authentic. I think about myself; I’m not like the hottest person in the world, but I’ve got a little quirk to me.’”
—Jester Bulnes, Los Angeles, 21
8. Time constraints can actually improve the final product.
“Armed with a 35mm camera, Lucia Bell-Epstein trained as a line cook under Jay Wolman at Brooklyn’s LaLou. She brought it along to help her visualize plating, but soon realized she wanted ‘to shoot all the shit that you don’t want to see—a spill on the floor or someone’s hands cutting something.’ She kept her camera on standby, tucked into a jacket pocket or behind stacks of plates. ‘There were definitely moments where it was like, ‘You should put it down. This is not the time to be shooting a beautiful radicchio pickled-cherry salad,’’ she says. ‘But it made me make stronger images because I had to be like, I only have so much time.’”
—Lucia Bell-Epstein, New York, 25
