OUR CHOICE OF NEW AND EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS TO WATCH TASNEEM ALSULTAN SASHA ARUTYUNOVA XYZA BACANI IAN BATES CLARE BENSON ADAM BIRKAN KAI CAEMMERER NICHOLAS CALCOTT SOUVID DATTA RONAN DONOVAN BENEDICT EVANS PETER GARRITANO SALWAN GEORGES JUAN GIRALDO ERIC HELGAS CHRISTINA HOLMES JUSTIN KANEPS YUYANG LIU YAEL MARTINEZ PETER MATHER JAKE NAUGHTON ADRIANE OHANESIAN CAIT OPPERMANN KATYA REZVAYA AMANDA RINGSTAD ANASTASIIA SAPON ANDY J. SCOTT VICTORIA STEVENS CAROLYN VAN HOUTEN DANIELLA ZALCMAN © JUSTIN KANEPS APRIL 2017 pdnonline.com 25 OUR CHOICE OF NEW AND EMERGING PHOTOGRAPHERS TO WATCH EZVAYA R © KATYA © KATYA EDITor’s NoTE Reading about the burgeoning careers of these 30 Interning helped Carolyn Van Houten learn about working photographers, a few themes emerge: Personal, self- as a photographer; the Missouri Photo Workshop helped assigned work remains vital for photographers; workshops, Ronan Donovan expand his storytelling skills; Souvid fellowships, competitions and other opportunities to engage Datta gained recognition through the IdeasTap/Magnum with peers and mentors in the photo community are often International Photography Award, and Daniella Zalcman’s pivotal in building knowledge and confidence; and demeanor grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting altered and creative problem solving ability keep clients calling back. the course of her career. Many of the 2017 PDN’s 30 gained recognition by In their assignment work, these photographers deliver pursuing projects that reflect their own experiences and for their clients without fuss. Benedict Evans, a client interests. Salwan Georges explored the Iraqi immigrant says, “set himself apart” because people like to work with community of which he’s a part. Xyza Bacani, a one- him. Ian Bates is known as a hard worker who will figure time domestic worker in Hong Kong, is using her unique a story out. And Amanda Ringstad has, a client says, background to tell stories of “invisible people” who are strong views but “very little ego.” living as she once was. Tasneem Alsultan is working to The path to a successful photography career can seem change the way people see Saudi and Arab women. And mysterious at times, and there is certainly no one-size- Clare Benson’s family and upbringing have been important fits-all formula. But as the stories of these photographers touchstones in her fine-art work. suggest, pursuing one’s personal vision, building Several photographers cited workshops, fellowships, community and working hard for clients has helped many mentorships and other opportunities that propelled them. photographers find their way. —Conor RISCH 26 pdnonline.com APRIL 2017 PDN THANKS THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE FOR NOMINATING PHOTOGRAPHERS FOR THE 2016 PDN’s 30: DAVID ALEXANDER JOANNA LEHAN, ARNOLD, ICP Museum Travel + Leisure JOHN FLEETWOOD, ALEXANDRA GARCIA, Photo: International League KATHY RYAN, of Conservation The New York Photographers Times Magazine ALLIE FISHER, MAGGIE STEBER, WIRED photographer ALLYSON TORRISI, MARIANNE CAMPBELL, Popular Mechanics Marianne Campbell AMY FEITELBERG, Associates Square MARVIN HEIFERMAN, AMY WOLFF, writer, curator, CoEdit Collection ICP/Bard, SVA faculty ANDREW NEDIMYER, MICHAEL ITKOFF, Hum Creative Daylight ANN JASTRAB, MICHAEL KAMBER, Rayko Photo Center photographer ARIEL SHANBERG, MICHAEL MACK, curator MACK books ARIEL ZAMBELICH, MICHELLE BABLITZ, NPR SAINT LUCY ASH BARHAMAND, Represents WWD NATALIE FLEMMING, ASHLEY LUMB, This Represents The Bodleian Libraries, NATHALIE APPLEWHITE, University of Oxford Pulitzer Center on BRIAN SHOLIS, Crisis Reporting curator PAUL SCHIEK, CATHERINE EDELMAN, TBW Books Catherine PETER DICAMPO, Edelman Gallery photographer CHARLES TRAUB, ROMKE HOOGWAERTS, School of Visual Arts Mossless DARREN CHING, SAMANTHA JOHNSTON, Klompching Gallery Colorado Photographic DEB WENOF, Arts Center Refinery29 SANDRA S. PHILLIPS, ELIZABETH KRIST, SFMOMA photo editor SEBASTIAN MEYER, EMILY KEEGAN, Metrography The FADER STACEY EMILY NATHAN, CLARKSON JAMES, Tiny Atlas Quarterly Harper’s Magazine ESA EPSTIEN, STEPHEN PERLOFF, sepiaEYE The Photo Review TEVENS S FRED BIDWELL, STEVEN B. SMITH, RIA O Rhode Island T Transformer Station C I School of Design V IHIRO HAYAMI, © TARA GUERTIN, TO SEE MORE IMAGES BY The 2017 PDN’s 30 PhoTOGRAPHERS, VISIT PDNs30.com Tokyo Institute of Photography AFAR JACQUELINE BATES, TOM CLAXTON, PDN THANKS THE SPONSORS OF PDN’s 30 The California Webber Represents FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THIS ISSUE AND OF Sunday Magazine W.M. HUNT, curator THE PDN’s 30 educATIONAL PROGRAMS. JAMES ESTRIN, The New York Times YAELLE AMIR, JEFF JACOBSON, Newspace photographer Center for OUR CHOICE OF Photography NEW AND EMERGING JIGISHA BOUVERAT, PHOTOGRAPHERS Jigisha Bouverat ZARA KATZ, TO WATCH Collective producer 28 pdnonline.com APRIL 2017 XYZA BACANI HAD BEEN A domestic worker in Hong Kong for JUSTIN KANEPS nearly ten years when photographer AGE: 27 Rick Rocamora discovered her BORN: Somerset, NJ street photography on Facebook. RESIDES: San Francisco Her photographs stood out for their EDUcation: The Art Institute of Boston composition, layering, dramatic light WEBSITE: justinkaneps.com and decisive moments. Rocamora Clients: Bloomberg Businessweek, The California Sunday brought her to the attention of The New Magazine, The New York Times, Surface, Fast Company, San York Times, which debuted her work on Francisco Magazine, Airbnb Lens blog in 2014. Almost overnight, EXHIBITIONS: Leila Heller Gallery, New York; Book & Job Gallery, Bacani’s life changed. San Francisco; Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álavarez Bravo, Oaxaca, Mexico “Because of my sexy background Awards: Magenta Foundation Flash Forward; American Photography 32 story, I got a lot of media exposure,” BEST ADVICE: “It’s important to have a community of photographers for support, but I think she says. Journalists who did stories sometimes photographers get stuck inside of that and become insular within the photography about her began sending assignments community. Make an effort to expand your community beyond photographers to other types her way. In 2015, she came to New of artists.” York on a Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellowship. With mentoring from Susan Meiselas, Bob Sacha and others, she learned storytelling and multimedia skills. Bacani now supports herself primarily through print sales “EVEN IF MY ASSIGNMENT is one portrait, and editorial assignments that make it I’ll go above and beyond and try to put together a possible for her to pursue her ongoing story,” says Justin Kaneps. His work ethic and his project about immigrant labor around ability to combine portraits with storytelling have the world. caught the eye of photo editors. “His pictures are XYZA “She organizes often complex suffused with natural light and rich colors and BACANI photographs really well,” says James textures that give them a vivid, dreamy quality,” AGE: 30 Estrin, co-founder of The New York says Bloomberg Businessweek’s Clinton Cargill, BORN: Nueva Times Lens blog. “Why I’m so impressed who assigned Kaneps to shoot a cover story on Vizcaya, Philippines is that she moved into doing this Levi’s. “They also fit clearly in the tradition of the RESIDES: “Living incredibly important work on domestic early color photographers…It gives his pictures out of a suitcase for workers…she has the access, and a sense of nostalgia that worked perfectly to two years now.” ability to see it like nobody else can.” portray an iconic American brand like Levi’s.” WEBSITE: Bacani first tried her hand at painting, Kaneps breaks down his approach to xyzacruzbacani.com then bought a camera. “I was like, ooh… photography like this: minimal gear, respect CLIENTS: magic!” she recalls. She carried it for subjects, let the work speak for itself. The New York Times Lens blog, ChinaFile, everywhere. “At night I snuck out from my He balances the meticulously placed and the South China Morning Post, Fujifilm employer’s home to take pictures.” arbitrarily happened-upon, the thoughtful EXHIBITIONS: Arrow Factory, Beijing; She went online to study the work and the spontaneous. At art school, he was Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Youth of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fan Ho and heavily influenced by the New Topographics and Arts Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; Pedro Luis Raota. She also studied how photographers, but when he started making Kong Art Space, Hong Kong Renaissance painters “play with the portraits in 2011, he looked to the work of AWARDS: Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting light and composition.” And she binged Walker Evans and Lewis Hine. Moving forward, Travel Grant; Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia; on movies, pausing on scenes that he hopes eventually to dig into long-term Magnum Foundation Human Rights caught her eye. “The first thing I learned storytelling projects in places as far flung as Fellowship; BBC 100 Women of 2015; is that light is everything. Even if your Alaska, Guatemala, Latvia or Sweden. Visionaries 2015; Justice Centre Hong Kong form and content are beautiful, if your Kaneps credits human connection and Human Rights Arts Prize light is flat, it’s not going to be visually communication with both peers and editors for BIGGEST CHALLENGE: “Starting out as a appealing,” Bacani says. the advancement of his career thus far. “I wear my freelancer, I do not have a safety net, so failing Lately she has been studying heart on my sleeve, but it’s helped me forge deep is not an option. My family is poor. For me it’s the elements of design, to better connections to my peers, mentors and subjects,” important that we