Ryan Madison (Founder/Executive Director)
Ryan is a visual artist that is intrigued by people above all else. Since picking up a camera in 2012, he has been published in The Washington Post, Surf & Adventure magazine, worked on television productions, IMAX documentary films, and has exhibited his art in galleries across The United States. In college he was influenced heavily by street photographer & documentarian Serge J-F. Levy, a visiting artist at the University of Arizona in 2013
After 6 years of film and fine art photography in the deserts of Arizona & California, Ryan came back to the east coast and started photographing the streets of DC; looking to create images of historic value. He also sought out to create something bigger than himself, while boosting the careers of photographers around him. Thus, the DC Street Photography Collective was created, to supplement the underserved street community and support those who are creatively documenting the art of people in public spaces.
Kanayo Adibe (Director)
Kanayo Adibe is a Washington DC area photographer. His approach to photography is artistic, photojournalistic and arguably cinematic. With every shot he takes he's constantly thinking of new ways to creatively tell stories using unconventional techniques and interesting angles, while creating that captivating feeling of presence when viewing his photos.
The photographs he makes are very environmental in the sense that he incorporates the natural lines, textures, patterns and light in the environment to help shape his compositions. Beyond his commissioned work (weddings, portraiture and events), he is a published street photographer with work featured in publications like the Baltimore Sun and The Bureau of Arts and Culture and on exhibit in several DC galleries.
Sofia Sebastian (Director)
Sofia Sebastian was born and raised in Madrid but currently lives in Washington DC. She is fascinated by the business of everyday life in large urban environments. She enjoys playing with light and shadows to accentuate the personal, and to emphasize the drama in the context of so much energy and movement.
Robert Trejo Jr.
Robert has been fortunate to have lived in over a dozen countries, to include Iraq, Thailand and Greece. Each new culture and collection of wild experiences has shaped his perspective to what it is today. To date he enjoys immersing himself in the city with its people.
He continues to make photographs daily in Washington, D.C. He walks the streets with intent but understands that his gut and luck make a large contribution to his art. His goal is never to disturb the environment in which he works in, but to make honest observations based on his personal perspective. He does not believe the street photographer should be reinforcing negative stereotypes, but it is the responsibility of the street photographer to arrange the parts of a familiar or mundane moment into a unique and interesting composition.
Tom Mullins
Tom Mullins blames early exposure to Andre Kertesz, Cartier-Bresson and W. Eugene Smith for inspiring a futile life spent aping his betters. He currently writhes in agony in suburban Maryland to the consternation of his lovely bride and beautiful daughters all of whom have sensibly stayed away from street photography (unless you count street food where @juliet_ate_romeo has some lovely work - or the active life of ceramics at @wavesofstonepottery).
Ashley Tillery
Ashley Tillery is a self-taught photographer based in Arlington VA. Prior to moving to Virginia, Ashley worked as a folklorist and exhibition designer in rural Alabama. The experiences gleaned from her time in Alabama laid the foundation for her ongoing commitment to photographing communities of color in all their splendor, hardship and transcendence.
Messay
Chris Suspect
Chris Suspect is a street and documentary photographer hailing from the Washington, DC area. He specializes in capturing absurd and profound moments in the quotidian. His street photography work has been recognized internationally and has been exhibited in Miami, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Romania, Georgia and the United Kingdom. His documentary work on the underground music scene in Washington, D.C., was published as a book, Suspect Device, by Empty Stretch in 2014 and was a featured exhibit at the Kolga Tblisi Photo Festival 2015 in Tblisi, Georgia. This same project was also featured in the Leica Galerie at Photokina 2014 in Koln, Germany. The work is currently held in the Leica Galerie Archives.
In 2018, Suspect was named chairperson for the Focus on the Story festival in Washington, D.C. In recent years, he won the StreetFoto San Francisco competition for street series, FotoWeek DC’s competition for Photographer’s Choice series, and Exposed DC’s annual photography competition. He was also a finalist in the Miami Street Photography Festival Miami Photo Series. He was shortlisted for the International Street Photography
Awards (UK) and named the winner of the Washington City Paper’s 2014 Photography Contest. Previously Suspect served as a judge for the Miami Street Photography festival during Miami Art Basel (2013), he won Photo District News’ “The Scene” contest for music photography (2013) and received an honorable mention in the Chicago Photographic Society’s first annual street photography contest (2013).
Suspect’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Photo District News, LFI Magazine and on the Leica Camera Blog. He also has published photographs in the Washington Post, Washington City Paper, CNN, The Atlantic, Forbes and many other media outlets in the US, Germany, Canada and Brazil.