Repeat after me, “500px is about a lot more than heavily-processed landscapes and pretty girls.” There you go. That wasn’t so hard was it?
Joking aside, the 500px faithful know how difficult it can be to dispel the myth that those two things (and maybe one or two others) are what 500px is all about. Never mind fine art work by people like Margarita Kareva who uses ONLY NATURAL LIGHT, or the mind-blowing work of Benjamin Von Wong, or the heartwarming photography of Elena Shumilova.
The fact is 500px is full of amazing photographers in every genre — from wildlife and Action/Sport, to Street Photography and Motor Sport.
We have a community that is, to put it technically, diverse as hell. So scroll down to meet ten 500px photographers that will alter your perception of what this awesome community is all about.
Vadim Stein
Vadim Stein‘s (some photos NSFW) dance photography is just… amazing. From the vibrant, to the black & white, to the fine-art risque, all of it is prone to leave you slack-jawed.
Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1967, Vladim owes some of his eye for drama to the 7 years he spent working in the theater of Plastic Drama as the actor and the lighting designer. These days he resides in Russia and writes poetic biographies for his 500px account:
Solving the aesthetic problem, I also reveal many ethical questions. For me, such things as love and death are revealed through the aesthetic category, beauty – the predecessor of ethics.
To follow along as Vladim creates more powerful photographs of dancers executing mind-bending moves, follow him on 500px or pay his website a visit.
Jamey Price
Former jockey and lover of loud fast things Jamey Price doesn’t shoot HDR landscapes. In fact, we’re not even sure he’s ever shot a landscape. Instead, he travels the world capturing people who, in the words of the great Ricky Bobby, “wanna go fast!”
From MotoGP, to Formula One, to 12-hour endurance races, the photos he comes back from these events with will make speed daemons and petrol heads alike salivate uncontrollably:
Want to see more of Jamey’s work or find out more about the man behind the camera? Check out his Humble Beginnings and Day in the Life features, follow him on 500px, check out his website, or visit him on Facebook and Twitter.
Junichi Hakoyama
If you think 500px doesn’t have great, artistic street photography, then you’ve clearly not seen the work of Junichi Hakoyama. The solitary figures in his black & white, Leica M Monochrom images are so geometric they’ll make you do a double take.
Whites and blacks; light and shadow; background, foreground, and subject; all interact at perfect angles to create compositions that the word striking doesn’t even come close to describing adequately.
Junichi’s last upload was just three days ago, so you’re definitely going to want to keep up with him on 500px to see his latest work as it happens. In addition to 500px, you can also find more from Junichi on his Tumblr.
Sara K Byrne
Desaturated, modern, and feminine, are just a few of the words I’d use to describe Sara K Byrne‘s work. Her photography looks like it’s taken straight out of the pages of Kinfolk magazine, featuring a style of processing that is FAR removed from the HDR, hyper-saturated look.
Based out of Portland, Oregon, Sara’s work is a perfect example of landscapes and portraits — some even include pretty girls… — that fall far outside the mold of what some people think is “500pxish”.
Alongside her husband Dylan, the couple captures images of people and places that are distinctly northwest in the best possible sense of that phrase. Scroll down to see more:
To see more from Sara and Dylan, follow her account on 500px, visit their website, or show them love on Facebook and Twitter.
Catherine MacBride
500pxer Catherine MacBride does things with paper that will astound you. A still-life photography master on the level of 500px all-stars like Dina Belenko, her creative compositions stole our hearts when we stumbled across them a few weeks ago.
Based in Dublin, Ireland, Catherine doesn’t limit herself to still-life work by any means, but those are probably our favorite images from her portfolio.
“If I run out of something to photograph I’ll make something,” she writes in her bio, “usually out of paper.” And those paper creations contain that one thing that every still-life photo needs to become more than the sum of its parts: a story. Each photo seems to tell a fun, whimsical tale.
To see much more from Catherine, follow her on 500px, visit her website, read her blog, or Tweet at her on Twitter.
Scott Rinckenberger
Scott Rinkenberger‘s minimalist black & white landscapes are the antithesis of HDR. He needs no color to tell a story, light, shadow, and composition are enough to speak volumes.
Featured on ISO previously here, there is something about his landscape photography that finds us captivated, staring for tens of minutes at a single photo, attempting to absorb every shadowy wrinkle.
In addition to his 500px (which you should follow right now…), you can find Scott’s work on his website, Facebook and Twitter.
Eric Paré
You may remember Eric ParĂ©‘s work from our feature of his captivating Salar de Uyuni photos of dancer Kim Henry. But Eric’s skill goes beyond this kind of breathtaking portrait work into the realm of bullet time light painting, where he made his name.
His “Lightspin” images are the focus of this particular feature, but you’ll want to check out his full portfolio to see a lot more reasons why he’s a no-brainer for this list.
See lots more from Eric by following him on 500px, visiting his website, liking him on Facebook, or keeping up with him on Twitter.
Sarah Lee
This list wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t take a dip underwater, and who better to take a dip with than famed travel and underwater photographer Sarah Lee?
She describes her occupation as “I follow water people around the world and document their adventures,” and that actually sums it up pretty well. What she’s left out, though, is that she’s earned herself tens of thousands of fans & followers, and been featured by the likes of National Geographic. Scroll down to find out why.
For more from Sarah, follow her on 500px, check out her website, and show her some love on Facebook and Twitter.
Mathijs van den Bosch
Architecture is another category that is bursting with incredible photographers on 500px, and yet you don’t usually hear much talk about it. Let’s remedy that with the work of Mathijs van der Bosch.
Occasionally dabbling in color, most of Mathijs’ architectural photography is expertly processed black & white, allowing the scale and shape of the buildings he’s photographing take over the composition. Incidentally, one of his images was a favorite of March Guest Editor Roland Shainidze.
To browse through more of the Amsterdam-based architecture photographer’s work, follow Mathijs on 500px, visit his website, or check him out on Facebook and Twitter.
Grant Friedman
From fashion runways, to the streets of New York City, to the walkways of Central Park, there’s a ‘je ne sais quoi’ to Grant Friedman‘s photography that we love despite it vexing us.
The lifestyle & behind the scenes photographer — who is also the Editor of the website Next to the Text — has been featured on ISO before, once for his “snowpocalypse” photos and another time when he wrote a definitive photographer’s guide to surviving fashion week. But even if you’re not interested in learning from him, a stroll through his portfolio will no doubt impress you.
See more from Grant by following him on 500px, visiting his website, checking him out on Twitter, or subscribing to Next to the Text.
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