Best Rising Photographers of December 2023

Kyla Rys is a New York based photographer. She captures striking, yet minimal images with a sense of timelessness. Born in Hunan, China and raised in Colorado, Kyla’s passion for photography began at age twelve. Her early projects with pets have been published with appearances in National Geographic and The Huffington Post. While receiving a B.F.A in photography from SCAD she produced distinctive brand visuals for the university’s marketing team. Kyla is currently working at Ralph Lauren in Creative Services.

Frédéric Demeuse is a Belgian photographer and visual artist based in Brussels, Belgium. He is driven by a boundless passion for the outdoors, capturing the vital energy, beauty, and poetry of the world through his lens. From the smallest details to majestic landscapes, from wildlife to remote primary forests with limitless aesthetics, Frédéric transcribes the world around him into visually idealistic images. Through his work, Frédéric explores the relationship between humans and the living community, the scale of time, the history of evolution, and what exists beyond the human condition. He uses photography as a raw material, a permanent work of observation and research on light, texture, and composition. His images, inspired by living dreams and pure curiosity, are best expressed in black and white, as the soul of the subject is showcased without any distractions. The serve as a reminder of the importance of our relationship with the biosphere, and the hope that mankind will never forget that it is the most valuable element of our existence and of our community of destiny.

Melanie Schoeniger is an award winning photographic artist from Germany. She seeks to reveal the beauty and essence of nature as a means to create awe and uncover secrets behind all stardust. Her work unpacks the wonder of being alive and explores themes such as perception, interconnectedness, the human condition and our place in the larger scheme of things. The principal intention of each image is to evoke a deep connection with nature while protecting and preserving it for future generations. As a Photolucida 2022 Critical Mass Top 200 finalist, her work was awarded with Julia Margaret Cameron, Pollux and Chromatic first places, Tifa Silver, and more. Her work has been on view at Foto Nostrum Gallery, Barcelona in 2022. Her images are featured and published in A. Smith Gallery Editions, Fresh Eyes Talent Book, ArtDoc Magazine, the Hand Magazine, Humana Obscura, the WWF Climate Challenge Compendium.

Rohina is a fine art photographer whose practice uses portraiture and the natural world to investigate themes of identity, home, adolescence and the female experience. Born in India and raised in New Jersey, Rohina grew up in a family of doctors spanning three generations. While an undergraduate at Brown University, Rohina also studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design and she was a staff photographer for the Brown Daily Herald. A graduate of Brown University Medical School and resident at UCLA Medical Center, her training led to a career as a neurologist. A skilled observer of her patients, Rohina was instilled with a deep and unique appreciation of the human experience. Her ability to forge the sacred trust between doctor and patient has been instrumental in fostering a parallel connection between photographer and subject. Rohina published her first monograph Hair Stories with Damiani Editore (February 2019) accompanied by a solo exhibition at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. Hair Stories is held in many notable public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty Research Institute, Cleveland Institute of Art, and over 25 university libraries. Her second monograph, Embrace, with Schilt Publishing was released October 2022 (Europe) and January 2023 (U.S.) with a solo show of this work at the Griffin Museum of Photography (April 2023). In 2021, she was the winner of the Purchase Award with Atlanta Photography Group and several of her prints from her Generation 1.75 project were acquired by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Her photographs have been exhibited in juried group shows both nationally and internationally in venues such as The Center for Fine Art Photography, Griffin Museum, Atlanta Photography Group, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Los Angeles Center for Photography, Photo LA, and A. Smith Gallery. She has received numerous awards and has been published in Marie Claire Italia, F-Stop Magazine, Lenscratch, Shots Magazine, Dodho Magazine and Aesthetica Magazine among others

Joyce P. Lopez started out as a weaver, moved with her family to Copenhagen for three years, and upon returning moved into photography with an international p.o.v. Winning a number of international competitions, she established her own recognizable photography style and has continued working for over 40 years.

I was born in Mazara del Vallo (Sicily) in 1975. Now I live in Catania where I work as a SW engineer. I started studying photography in 2017 when a friend (who is passionate about street photography) pointed out that maybe I had a good visual sense (ironically I am visually impaired in the right eye). In the last years some of my photographs have been selected from digital magazines and important competitions in Italy and abroad (MiamiSPF, ItalianSPF, IstanbulSPF, Urban Photo Awards and so on). I won ImagOrbetello (category Street) in 2021 and Observa Street Photo Festival in 2023.

I was born in Southern Poland and I currently live in USA. My heart and my time is divided between these two countries, and I love being able to call them both home. My photographic adventure started 20 years ago and eventually become my life’s passion. I received my primary and secondary education in Cracow, studied in NYC’s Hunter Collage and trained at Manhattan’s International Center of Photography. In my work I always look for images that can be best expressed with clear lines, bold colors, strong forms and rich textuers. From architectural and still life subjects to landscape and aerial imagery the goal always is to find places and moments when what I see in my viewfinder suddenly comes into sharp focus obliterating everything outside the frame. As photographers we are always engaging in transforming the 3 dimensional world we live in onto a flat 2 dimensional surface. How successful we are in this pursuit depends on how effectively we can focus our perception, eliminate peripheral distractions and reduce what we see to its most basic visual elements. Every time I pick up my camera or start my drone’s engine the hunt begins for the perfect scene, and with every click of the shutter I ask the hidden image to reveal itself.

Based in Sydney, Thomas is an Australian photojournalist and travel photographer driven by a passion for exposing and championing environmental and humanitarian issues that exist in today’s societies, all over the world. Thomas’ work explores current social issues; combining his passion for creative storytelling with a desire to inspire positive social change. Working closely with local NGOs, charities and communities, this work has taken him across the world where he has founded projects and campaigns with refugees, religious groups, environmental agencies and education programs. His photographic journey began in 2016 when he spent 6 months documenting the north of India as part of his project ‘Oh India’ which, after first being released as an exhibition in Sydney, has since become a photobook and has raised over $10,000 for a remote education program in West Bengal. In 2017 Thomas travelled across Italy documenting the refugee crisis, working closely with volunteer groups and NGOs to tell the stories of those seeking asylum for his ongoing project ‘A Voice for a Refugee’. After spending a year studying at the Speos International Photographic Institute in London in 2018/19 and obtaining his diploma in professional photography, Parrish then went on to document the Camino del Norte, an 850km pilgrimage across Spain, as a way of raising money through sponsorship and prints sales for Amazon Watch as part of his project ‘Camino for the Amazon’ which aided in the recovery program for indigenous communities most affected by the fires in the Amazon in 2019, raising over $4,000. Thomas has since returned home to Australia where he recently released his latest body of work ‘A Place Called Manly, A Place Called Home’, which celebrates the everyday beauty of his hometown in Sydney Australia and was exhibited in Paddington, Sydney. Thomas’s work has featured in multiple international photographic publications such as Suitcase Magazine, Lodestars Anthology, Australian Photography Magazine, Dodho Mag, Stade and Ernest Journal and more.

My maternal grandfather had a grocery store in the town, the paternal grandfather did a thousand jobs throughout Spain, the grandmothers made a living sewing clothes and faced continuous worries. My parents had to emigrate to and they ended up having a bar, where the whole family worked. I, perhaps, should have stayed with the bar, but I chose the path of light. There was no shortage of those who told me that it would be difficult and hard, but no one in my family has had it easy. Why would I be less? Years later I am full of new physical and spiritual scars, which have added to what already existed within me and always defined my way of seeing the world. And it is that I will never be able to escape from what is close to me and is the measure of everything I discover, of the tenderness that they taught me to have in my heart and the silence with which I lived for years. It is in this mixture that my photographs are macerated. The set of these circumstances, nothing special, is what has led me to win several prizes and scholarships, exhibit nationally and internationally, participate in a good number of catalogues, publish several fanzines, collaborate with the Kursala of the University of Cádiz, to publish with the publishing house Ediciones Posibles And it seems that everything was an instant.

I am Eszter Halasi, a self-taught photographer from Hungary currently residing in England. With a passion for capturing meaningful moments, I specialize in portraits of children and families, and the ethnic group lifestyle. My goal is to challenge stereotypes and promote understanding through my images. Throughout my journey, I have received recognition for my work, including a bronze prize in the Budapest Photo Awards and honorable mentions in International Competitions. I continually seek opportunities for growth. I achieved second place in the Hungarian Press Photo, Portrait and Human Portrait category in 2021. I has been shortlisted on : Portrait of Britain (2022) and ( 2023), Global Peace Photo Award (2023), International Women in Photo Award 2023, Finalist at the BCN-DH International Photo Festival 2023 My photographs have been featured in online publications and exhibited at festivals, showcasing the diverse narratives I strive to capture. Through my lens, I aim to evoke empathy, challenge perceptions, and celebrate the beauty of life. As I continue to explore the art of photography, I am dedicated to telling compelling stories and making a positive impact through my images. I hope my work is a visual journey into the essence of human experiences.