30 Photographers Under 30 to Watch
These young photographers are proof that skill and talent reigns supreme over age and experience.
Image via Complex Original
Photography—the cheap man’s answer to painting. Well, that was certainly how it was perceived in the 1800s when the cost of having your portrait commissioned was significantly cheaper if you went for a daguerreotype instead of an oil painting. As photography gained popularity in the 1900s, the availability of rolls of film made the medium cheaper and faster and resulted in smaller cameras. Nowadays we’re shooting on our phones, taking selfies, and adding filters with apps. Sometimes it feels like anyone can be a professional photographer, now that the equipment is so readily available. But despite Kim Kardashian’s eagerly awaited book on the art of taking a selfie, being a legitimate photographer actually requires a bit more of an effort than that.
Here, we have collected 30 photographers whose careers you should keep track of. Some have postgraduate degrees in photography while others are self-taught, but all have an eye for what makes an incredible image. With that said, here are 30 Photographers Under 30 to Watch.
Evgenia Arbugaeva
Age: 29
Based in: New York and Yakutsk, Russia
Born in the Arctic town of Tiksi in Russia, where she lived until she was eight, Arbugaeva frequently looks to her own country as a source of inspiration. Her series on mammoth tusk hunters (pictured) was shot in Siberia for National Geographic. She regularly travels between New York City, where she studied photography, and Russia. In 2012, she won the Bright Spark award in the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward Competition and a year later in 2013 she won the Leica Oskar Barnack Award at the Rencontres International de la Photographie festival in France.
Laura Austin
Age: 24
Based in: Los Angeles
Laura Austin loves to travel and she wants you to love it too. She picked up a camera to share her trips and to develop her technique (she is self-taught) and soon after, Fortune 500 brands wanted in on the action. She covers sports, beauty, and style, and won the Travel category in this year’s Monster Children Photo Contest. But she confessed to us that she’d like to “bury my head in a few personal projects soon.” She went on to say: “I think that is an important thing to do every now and then to maintain passion for what you are doing and remember why you started shooting photos in the first place.”
Olivia Bee
Age: 20
Based in: New York
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Bee (born Olivia Bolles) was commissioned to shoot an ad for Converse at 15 while the rest of her contemporaries were still at school thinking about what they wanted to do for a career. The rest, as they say, is history. She’s shot for Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times, and has continued her commercial work for clients such as adidas, Hermès, and Roger Vivier. Oh, and she’s had exhibitions in Oregon, New York, Canada, and Spain. And she sometimes models. And she’s done a TED talk, too. We’ll be watching to see what she does next.
Andrey Bogush
Age: 27
Based in: Helsinki
Born and raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he earned a BA in Psychology, Bogush moved to Helsinki to do his MFA in “Time and Space Arts” at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. His body of work has rapidly evolved from landscape shots to more abstracted work, produced by modifying the image in Photoshop. In 2012, his Rainbow series was included in The Collector’s Guide to Emerging Art Photography published by Humble Arts Foundation.
Nancy Borowick
Age: 29
Based in: New York
Borowick describes herself as a humanitarian photographer and she certainly knows how to shoot an emotionally moving image. She is best known for her Cancer Family series, which document her parents’ battles with cancer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, and The Washington Post, and she has exhibited at several international photography events, including the Oberstdorfer Fotogipfel Photofestival in Germany, the Obscura Photo Festival in Malaysia, and the Angkor Photography Festival in Cambodia.
Flora Borsi
Age: 21
Based in: Budapest, Hungary
At 21, Borsi already has a string of awards to her name, including the gold medal of excellence at this year’s Trierenberg Super Circuit International Photography Award in Austria. She has exhibited around the globe and will take part in the International Biennial of Photography by Fotomuseo in Bogota, Colombia next year. While it may seem surprising to have accomplished so much, the Hungarian has been snapping for over 10 years, although she didn’t get a professional camera until 2008.
Antoine Bruy
Age: 28
Based in:Lille, France
The French photographer started his art education in Brussels before moving to the School of Applied Art of Vevey, Switzerland, where he graduated in 2011. During this time, he started his project Scrublands, which documents people living off the grid. He spent weeks at a time living in remote farms across Europe to capture the images that he wanted, while also experiencing life with the farmers. In fact, when he joins a farm, he never initially introduces himself as a photographer. He has won several awards including the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award and the Getty Images Emerging Talent Award.
Inigo Christie
Age: 22
Based in: Newport, Wales
At 16, Christie decided to buy a camera and teach himself how to use it. The following week he was offered a job at a local drum and bass club, and thus commenced his Small City Youth project, documenting the club’s clientele. This led to him studying documentary-style photography at the local university. He is currently working on a project called New Young Dandy, which looks at the way the residents of Newport (a town know for its destitution and high unemployment rates) portray themselves, which will be accompanied by a film backed by Park Royal Studios.
Pauline Darley
Age: 25
Based in: Paris
French photographer Pauline Darley has already gotten commissions for GQ, Elle, and Grazia under her belt, thanks to her dreamy take on fashion photography. When she’s not shooting clothes, she takes portraits of singers like Pete Doherty, Sharleen Spiteri, and Iggy Pop. She has exhibited in Paris, Dijon, and Los Angeles.
Tatiana Gulenkina
Age: 27
Based in: Washington, D.C.
Born in Vladimir, Russia, and now based in the U.S., Gulenkina uses both digital technology and traditional darkroom equipment, as well as video and mixed media, in her practice. This image from her series "Things Merging and Falling Apart" is a photogram created in a color darkroom using long exposures. Her work was featured in the New York Photo Awards Show earlier this year and she is currently working on large-scale cyanotypes that document different processes in nature.
Kim Hardy
Age: 29
Based in: London
Kim Hardy works two jobs at a time as both an actor and a photographer. Located in South London, he is currently developing a series of images based on empty architecture called "Silent Future." He explains, “I ask the question—what is it like when the lights are on but nobody’s home? I’m fascinated by large urban spaces that capture my imagination, the more blaring lights the better.” In 2011, Hardy spent a month in Burma, exploring his ancestral heritage and documenting the people there.
Alma Haser
Age: 25
Based in: London and St Leonards-on-Sea, England
Haser’s "Cosmic Surgery" series is almost more complicated than cosmetic surgery. First, Haser photographs her subject. She then prints images of their face and folds them into a piece of origami, which she places back on the portrait and then she makes the final photograph. Since graduating four years ago, she has been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London and has won the 2013 Magenta Foundation's Bright Spark Award. She is currently working on a new series about twins.
Daniel Hojnacki
Age: 25
Based in: Chicago
Although Hojnacki graduated with a photography degree from Columbia College in Chicago, he considers himself to be a mixed media artist, blending photography, painting, and digital printing. He has recently developed “a printing process in which I digitally ink jet print on window screens”. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China, and earlier this year he spent four weeks as an artist in resident with Residency Corazon in LaPlata, Argentina.
Jing Huang
Age: 27
Based in: Shenzhen, China
Huang graduated in 2010 from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and is best known for his atmospheric black and white images, which create a sense of mystery and are reminiscent of traditional Chinese paintings. In 2011, he won the Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award, a good match since his camera of choice is a Leica anyway. Therefore it comes as no surprise that he regularly develops his own film, although he does admit to occasionally producing digital prints for the convenience of uploading them online.
Katharina Jung
Age: 21
Based in: Trier, Germany
Jung produces surreal and mystical images, despite only really getting into photography in the spring of 2013. She photographs herself and her friends and then digitally alters the images. She has already been gained exposure on Flickr and is currently on a mission to produce at least one image a week for 2014, so watch this space.
Holger Kilumets
Age: 22
Based in: London
Estonian artist Holger Kilumets has already been shortlisted for two prestigious prizes following his graduation—The Source-Cord Prize and the Platform Graduate Award—and had an exhibition at the MK Gallery while he was still in his second year of studies. His next project looks at pictorial representation, “looking back into the history of the invention of linear perspective and optics and putting this into the context of contemporary image-driven world where images aren’t anymore just substitutes for reality but an actual part of the reality," he reveals.
Rachel King
Age: 27
Based in: London and Yorkshire, England
Rachel King’s photographs tell stories. She is greatly influenced by cinema and the act of setting the scene—most clearly demonstrated in her 2014 exhibition "The Face of Satire," where the subjects were staged in custom-built sets for the photos. The show was so successful that it is scheduled to run again around the next British general election in May 2015. She is currently working on a hush-hush project with an interviewer, under the joint name Wolf & Diva, which will be comprised of a series of musician portraits for Domino Publishing to be exhibited next February.
Meeri Koutaniemi
Age: 27
Based in: Kuusamo, Finland
Photojournalist Koutaniemi has already visited over 20 countries, working as a photographer and making films around social issues concerning human rights and minorities. She recently completed a project in Nepal with ex-Kamalari slaves, discussing and photographing the feelings and memories of their slave years. Next month she continues with her long-term project on female genital mutilation in Uganda, Kenya, and Somaliland (the picture above is from this series). This year she received the Freelens Award at the Lumix Festival in Hannover, Germany, and the Visa d’or Daily Press in Visa Pour L’image in Perpignan, France.
Joey L
Age: 24
Based in: New York
Born Joey Lawrence, he adopted the moniker Joey L when he was given the nickname to differentiate him from the other Joey in his class. Despite having no formal photography training, L’s self-taught skills have bagged him commissions from the U.S. Army, Jose Cuervo, National Geographic, and Canon. This year he won the Mediastar award for Lavazza’s Wimbledon campaign, and in 2009 he got first place in the Professional Portrait division in the Professional Portrait division of the International Photography Awards.
Yoshinori Mizutani
Age: 27
Based in: Tokyo
In most cities you have pigeons, but Tokyo must be different since it has parrots instead. Well not quite—the parrots are actually non-natives who were introduced to the island as pets in the ’70s and then their breeding got out of control, and all of a sudden there were green parrots everywhere. Mizutani also found this intriguing when he moved to the capital, and so his "Tokyo Parrots" project was born. It has now won him numerous awards and coverage around the globe.
Dexter Navy
Age: 23
Based in: London, Paris, and Los Angeles
London-born Navy splits his time between the three cities, documenting youth culture in-between working for brands like BAPE, Marc Jacobs, Nike, and Sony, and shooting music videos for A$AP Rocky and The NBHD. He was discovered by i-D magazine when they came across his Tumblr and commissioned him to do some shoots. This year saw him getting signed to production company Partizan and having a solo show at the Hoxton Gallery in London.
Noell Oszvald
Age: 24
Based in: Budapest, Hungary
In search of the new Man Ray? NoellOszvald could be a strong contender for his crown, even though she says that she is not a photographer but rather a visual artist. Her black and white surreal, yet minimally stark, self-portraits are captivating. She is a fan of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and his influence definitely shows in her imagery. Despite producing a limited body of work, it has been widely picked up by the media and she is currently developing a loyal fan base.
Alice Quaresma Rodriguez
Age: 29
Based in: New York
Born in Brazil, Rodriguez’s international studies saw her attend a number of prestigious schools, including Central Saint Martins, the Pratt Institute, and Columbia University. She still spends a lot of time working in Brazil and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in Rio de Janeiro, New York, Miami, Paris, and Amsterdam. Her work is equally varied, from abstract to still life and landscapes to digital composites.
Olivia Rose
Age: 28
Based in: London
Despite studying fashion photography at the London College of Fashion, Olivia Rose’s work barely fits into that niche. She has worked for many years on her "Lost Boys" project, which documents young men—from estate kids in London to gang members in Jamaica—and which she hopes to turn into a film. Her work has been exhibited at the House of the Nobleman, Christie’s, and The Getty Gallery. Rose has appeared on the BBC and contributed to The Huffington Post to debate feminist issues.
Daro Sulakauri
Age: 29
Based in:Tbilisi, Georgia
The photojournalist is a stringer for Getty Images and has had work featured in Forbes, The New York Times, The Sunday Telegraph, and Bloomberg. She has covered political conflicts in Ukraine and Turkey, but also looks at smaller, less documented issues closer to home, such as the practice of arranged underage marriages in some communities in Georgia. In 2012, she won the Open Society Documentary Photography Project Grant. A year later PDN (Photo District News) included her in its list of emerging photographers to watch.
Maija Tammi
Age: 29
Based in: Helsinki and New York
Finnish photographer Maija Tammi’s work is themed around disgust, fear, and abnormality, which probably explains the "Milky Way" series she is currently working on. Her work has been exhibited in Finland, France, Croatia, and the U.S., and last year saw the publication of her book "Leftover/Removals," due for release in 2015. Her Removals series shows the most common diseases a few minutes after the operations, in a corner of an operating room, lit by an operating room light, in a kidney bowl, in two hospitals in Tampere, Finland. It won the Photo Essay of the Year 2011 award in Finland.
Nicole Tung
Age: 28
Based in: New York
Born in Hong Kong but with American nationality, Tung studied journalism and history at NYU. But after taking photos in the Balkans, she switched her career to become a photojournalist. She spent 2011 in North Africa covering the Arab Spring and has also covered conflicts in Turkey and Syria. Her work has been recognized by the Maybach Foundation, Women in Photojournalism, the Hearst Foundation, and the International Photography Awards.
David Urbanke
Age: 20
Based in: New York
Proving that being self-taught and young can still get you hired as long as you have talent, Urbanke has shot for InStyle, Marc Jacobs, and Vogue, among others. He left high school in New Jersey and moved to New York when he was just 16 to work as a photographer after an intern at Ford Models spotted some of his shots online. The majority of his work involves taking portraits of models, but his career is clearly on an upward trajectory. He even managed to make a guest appearance in Mademoiselle C—the documentary about fashion editor and trendsetter Carine Roitfeld.
Berta Vicente Salas
Age: 20
Based in: Barcelona, Spain
This Spanish fine art photographer has already had her feminine yet somewhat unsettling images featured in El Mundo and Time Out. She started out at the age of 14, taking photos of her friends, and has continued with portraiture as well as beauty photography. Her work has been exhibited in galleries in Barcelona, Paris, and London.
Anton Zemlyanoy
Age: 29
Based in: Paris
Fashion photographer Zemlyanoy was born in Turkmenistan but grew up in Sydney, Australia. While studying for an international business degree, he did a short photography course and started assisting photographers in Australia. He has since gone on to shoot for Vogue, Tatler, Allure, Marie Claire, and many others, and he currently does a lot of editorial work in Russia, although he officially resides in Paris with his wife, model Liga Melne.