Creators Are Us

In the world of celebrity  portraiture photography, where looking like plastic perfection has become the norm, photographer Chris Buck stands a world apart. Complicated lighting and retouching aren’t the tools of his trade, it’s the grey matter between his ears. If you aren’t already familiar with the name, try looking through many major magazines, he […]

At age 35, Michael Levin left behind his original career as a restaurant owner to experiment with an inexpensive digital camera. Just a few years later, he has been called a “rising star” by Focus magazine which called his images “soulful and evocative,” and year after year, the prize panels agree. Levin has been recognized […]

  Whether shooting Jason Kidd for Sports Illustrated or the anonymous maintainers of Times Square’s “guts” for the New York Times Magazine, Stephen Wilkes frames his subjects to reveal a truth about them. He captures the humanity of a glistening Chinese skyscraper, of an Ellis Island office a century removed from the last huddled masses […]

Where others see a silhouette Leon Steele sees a new horizon. Through his lens, people become physical features, camels and cows become simple textures in a larger landscape. In a cutthroat industry where sexuality often sells, Steele turns that idea on its head as well: a shoot for an organic food company becomes an artistic […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi For a series of pieces on sideshow performers, Matt Hoyle called on the talent of an unconventional modeling agency, Ugly NY. “The hardest part was getting a giant,” he recalls. If that sounds like a recited line of surrealist poetry, imagine weeks of preparation along the same […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi Diagram by Brandon Jones Though he now has a mantle full of trophies and a stable full of prestigious clients, James Day suffered a rocky start as a freelancer. “I took out a bank loan and set up a studio,” he says, “and didn’t get a single […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi and Zack Seckler From the moment a person learns their name, Carioca Studio stands out from the pack. The reason: this studio is less of a physical place (though it’s that, too) than a state of mind. Carioca is a Romanian based collective. They privilege their group […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi and Zack Seckler Darran Rees, a mural painter who turned to photography, launched his career with a disaster. The government of the United Kingdom hired him to shoot a series of landscape billboards set in a town affected by a disastrous chemical spill. His portraits of the […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi and Zack Seckler Antony Crossfield has something of a dream life: the painter-turned-photographer makes a living solely from sales of his fine art works in Europe and the United States. His provocative, thoughtful images often take as long to compose as a painting. One image, “The Hunt,” […]

Written by T.K. Dalton Edited by Jesi Khadivi Diagram by Brandon Jones You could say photography is a family affair for C.J. Burton—but that statement, like his innovative work with miniature sets, is trickier than it first appears. After retiring from police work, Burton’s father worked as a wedding photographer. The younger Burton began shooting […]