Best Rising Photographers of September 2026
Posted on September 21, 2026
Every month, we have the pleasure of discovering new photographers and seeing the world through their eyes. Their work comes to us from all over the world—from quiet moments made at home to photographs taken on the move, across different countries, cultures, and experiences.
Tzion Essel
United Kingdom
Tzion Essel is a London-based artist and educator whose practice explores narrative, memory, and the search for meaning through photography. His work is driven by an enduring fascination with the complexities of the human condition and our relationship with the natural world, using symbolism and visual storytelling to create images that invite quiet reflection. Influenced by classical painting and the Pictorialist movement, he works predominantly in black and white, embracing a cinematic and painterly approach that blurs the boundaries between photography and imagination. Rather than documenting the world as it appears, his photographs seek to evoke emotional and philosophical spaces where viewers are encouraged to pause, interpret, and bring their own experiences to the work. Alongside his artistic practice, Tzion contributes to photographic education as a guest critic at Kingston University
Dev Kumar
Malaysia
Dev Kumar is a wildlife and nature photographer from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, whose work celebrates the beauty, emotion, and individuality of the natural world. Drawn to authentic moments rather than dramatic spectacle, he photographs wildlife with patience, curiosity, and respect, seeking to reveal the character of each subject through thoughtful composition and patient observation. Whether working in colour or black and white, his photographs reflect a deep appreciation for nature and a desire to inspire others to see wildlife with greater empathy and understanding.
Jaeseok Lim
South Korea
I hold a PhD in neurogenetics and practice as an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, running a specialized wisdom tooth clinic in South Korea. While photography initially began as a practical tool to promote my practice, I quickly became fascinated by the act of close observation - and how the lens can transform the everyday world into striking abstractions. What started as a utility has since evolved far beyond a hobby into a deeply meaningful body of artistic work. My dual life as a scientist and clinician has trained my eye to seek out structure, whether in experimental data, the symmetry of human anatomy, or the hidden patterns of daily life. I rarely approach a scene with a rigid intention; instead, I work intuitively, guided by the lines, geometry, repetition, and symmetry I discover within a space. When shooting, I am highly mindful of my subjects' comfort. Rather than making people the overt focus of my street photography, I prefer to frame them as integrated elements within a larger pattern or visual order. I also frequently turn to still lifes captured in natural light. For me, the joy of photography lies in the element of chance - the quiet thrill of discovering fleeting scenes that might otherwise go unnoticed. I know that photography will always remain my chosen way to see, interpret, and connect with the world.
Eugenia Brodsky
Ukraine
Eugenia Brodsky is an award-winning, Ukrainian-born, US-based photographer and visual artist with twenty years of international experience spanning fine art photography, editorial work, and branded content. Holding a Master's degree with honors in film directing, she brings a cinematic sensibility to her photographic practice, building a singular, atmospheric visual language across still and moving image. Her work is recognized for its poetic vision, deep color, and contemplative rhythm. Her photographic work has been exhibited in the United States and Ukraine, including a juried presentation organized by Medium Photo at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and published internationally in Vogue Ukraine, NASTY Magazine, DJ Mag, Contributor, Virtuogenix, Collater.al, and LensScratch, alongside brand campaigns for international companies. Her practice also extends to curation and art direction, including the organization of exhibitions in the United States, among them an NFT exhibition presented in Manhattan, New York. Brodsky holds membership in the National Union of Photo Artists of Ukraine.
Rikk Dunlap
United States
I grew up in Chicago Heights, an area surrounded by alleys, vacant homes, and burned-out buildings. They were my playgrounds and refuge, and later became my inspiration. I am drawn to the abandoned and forgotten, places and things no longer cared for that go by unnoticed in plain sight. There is beauty in decay. I find old stories and tell them anew by composing moments pulled from a larger narrative, bringing to light the shadow of life that remains behind. Black and white photography takes us beyond the surface and deep into the raw and revealing soul of the subject without being cushioned by color.
Hossein Zare
Iran
Hossein Mollashahi Zare is a fine art and conceptual landscape photographer whose work examines environmental transformation, ecological history, and the impacts of human intervention on the natural world. Focusing heavily on the socio-ecological crises in southeastern Iran, his key projects—including Burning in Water, Drowning in Fire and The Artificial/Man-Made Lake Project—document the desiccation of vital water sources and the resulting forced migration of local communities. By using the landscape as a conceptual canvas, his work visualizes absence, erasure, and the enduring consequences of systemic neglect. Zare’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at Ariya Gallery in Tehran and Goethe-Institut in New Delhi. His projects have been featured in Middle East Images Agency, The Guardian and Times. Through his art, Zare seeks to provoke reflection on the environmental challenges facing his homeland and the broader implications of human interaction with the land.
Kathryn Audet
Canada
Kathryn Audet is a contemporary lens-based photographer whose work examines the intersection of identity, memory, and the quiet exchanges between people and their environments. Drawn to understated, fleeting moments, she utilizes a documentary approach to evoke reflection and a grounded sense of nostalgia. Her imagery focuses on the subtle details that often go unnoticed—the worn surface of a building, quiet patterns in nature, or the lived-in character of everyday spaces—revealing how time shapes the familiar and how meaning accumulates in the ordinary. Each photograph serves as an invitation to pause, look closely, and recognize the profound significance within small, persistent moments. Audet was named the 2026 Emerging Photographer of the Year for the Exposure Photography Festival. Her work has been recognized internationally by the Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and the International Photography Awards (IPA), and she was also selected among the Top 200 photographers of Critical Mass 2026. Her work has been exhibited across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. She is based in Calgary, Alberta.
Lera Zilberstein
Russia
Lera Zilberstein is an art and documentary photographer based near Ljubljana, Slovenia. Born in Kazan, Russia, she relocated with her family to Slovenia in 2022, an experience that reshaped both her life and her photographic practice. Working across portraiture, landscape, and conceptual photography, Lera is interested in the subtle ways people relate to the places they inhabit. Her projects often begin with personal experience but expand into broader reflections on memory, belonging, childhood, and the dialogue between the human body and nature. Rather than documenting events, she seeks moments that reveal quiet emotional truths. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including in Italy, Greece, France, and Russia, and has been featured in publications such as F-Stop Magazine, Der Greif, and Ephemere.
Tommy Jiang
China
Tommy Jiang is an independent photographer from China. Before focusing on personal documentary projects, he worked in visual storytelling, a background that continues to inform his interest in people, behavior, and the ways identity is expressed in everyday life. For the past three years, he has been living and working in Yunnan, documenting diverse communities, their beliefs, traditions, festivals, and the changes shaping their daily lives. Having grown up in one of China’s major cities, rural life was not something he knew closely before moving there. Photography began for Tommy as a way to understand himself through observing others. In Yunnan, that search has become closely tied to land, community, and tradition, as he continues to document ways of life shaped by both continuity and change.
Troy Colby
United States
Troy was born in rural Kansas in 1975 and currently lives in Topeka, Kansas. His work and research explores the delicate balance of family, fatherhood and the outcome of the family photo album. Motivated by intellectual and psychological inquiry of these intimate topics, Troy photographs his own family as a means of understanding the emotional qualities that come along with fatherhood. It has become his means of understanding while creating an honest interpretation of the idealized family album. He received his BFA from the Academy of Art University in 2015 and his MFA in 2019. His work has been seen in Nowhere Dairy, Lensculture, Black and White Magazine, Lenscratch, Feature Shoot, Plates to Pixels, The Photo Review, Fraction Magazine, Der Greif and FotoRoom.
Written by Sandrine Hermand-Grisel — Founder & Director, All About Photo
Sandrine Hermand-Grisel is a photographer, curator, and editor of All About Photo, an international platform dedicated to supporting photographers worldwide. Read more
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