September Dawn Bottoms
September Dawn Bottoms is a self-taught photographer from Oklahoma who focuses on women’s and social issues and endeavors to explore her own family through her photographs. She believes that stories about people’s lives should come from a place of camaraderie, not just empathy. One of her projects, Not As Saved As We’d Like To Be, examines the ripple effects of sexual trauma and mental illness through her relationship with her mother and siblings in a way of self-described “collaborative documentary process.” For Bottoms, photography helps get her through her trauma, giving her the confidence she needs to revisit those traumatic memories: “The first time I told my mom I was molested as a child, I had my camera out, and I made her photograph me while I told her. Then I photographed her response, and it just made me feel more safe.” Her photos show the cold-cut truth and have helped her validate her own experiences while also allowing her to see people as just beings with flaws and hardships.

Andrea Hernández
Andrea Hernández compares the first time she held a camera to the first time Harry Potter handled a wand at Ollivander’s wand shop. “[It was] as if it had chosen me,” she said. Hernández started her career as a text journalist for El Estímulo, a publication based in Caracas, Venezuela, after graduating with a degree in journalism from Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. The large gap in Venezuela between those with power and those without it is the driving force behind her photography. She hopes to heal the divided country by exposing the corruption and highlighting the kindness that this disparity brings to the surface: “I hope that respectful and powerful work will spread empathy, and eventually tolerance will come along,” she said.

Saiyna Bashir
Saiyna Bashir is based in Pakistan and primarily documents gender inequality and sectarian violence in her images. She takes a very hands-on approach to her pictures, even putting herself in harm’s way to show the world the injustices she highlights. She was tear-gassed while covering the Ferguson riots in Missouri, which was a series of protests that took place in 2014 about the relationship between African Americans and law enforcement. “Photos are something that most people can relate to,” Bashir said. “It is the most objective form of insight into a certain place or culture.”

Anastasia Vlasova
At just 21 years old Anastasia Vlasova began covering the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych. She also covered the Russian annexation of Crimea and the effects of the conflict. Rather than photographing the war, Vlasova focuses on the lives of the innocent people affected by the war. “My photography is about quiet and unspoken sorrows and joys of individuals and communities on the front line,” she said. Vlasova believes in visual storytelling as it can be more effective and powerful than text journalism, as she says that “words can be lost in translation and interpretation”, while images are universal. She takes a more hands-on approach to photography, preferring to interact with the people she photographs, and taking the ethics of her profession seriously: “As a war photographer myself, I always keep in mind that I will leave the area, but the people I photograph will stay, and the choices I make can influence [their] lives,” she said.