Janette Beckman, photographer (U.K.)

British-born photographer Janette Beckman began her career at the dawn of punk rock, working for music magazines The Face and Melody Maker. She shot bands ranging from The Clash to Boy George, as well as three Police album covers. In 1983, she moved to NYC to document the underground hip-hop scene, photographing pioneers Run DMC, Slick Rick, Salt-N-Pepa, Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J and more. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Janette continues to chronicle sub-cultures, as well as photographing campaigns for a variety of well-known brands. She is represented by the Fahey Klein Gallery in Los Angeles.

Delphine Diallo, visual artist, photographer, filmmaker (France)

Delphine Diallo is a Brooklyn-based French and Senegalese visual artist, photographer and filmmaker. She graduated from the Académie Charpentier School of Applied Arts in Paris in 1999 before working in the music industry for seven years as a special-effect motion artist, video editor and graphic designer. In 2008, she moved to New York to explore her own practice. Diallo was mentored by acclaimed photographer and artist Peter Beard, who was impressed by her creativity and spontaneity.

Jian Guo Feng, photographer, professor (China)

Jian Guo Feng is a doctoral professor at Tsinghua University Academy of Arts & Design. He is also a member of the committee of experts for the China National Arts Fund and a member of the China Photographers Association. He has held more than 30 solo exhibitions around the world, including San Francisco, Vienna, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. His works are stored in museums such as the Shanghai Art Museum, the Capital Museum, the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, and the Guangdong Museum of Art in China, as well as the Valencian Institute of Modern Art in Spain, and the Nihon University College of Art's Archive and Museum in Japan.

Elliot Grove, movie producer (Canada)

Elliot founded the Raindance Film Festival in 1993, and the British Independent Film Awards in 1998. He has produced over 700 short films. He teaches writers and producers in Europe, Japan and America. He has written three well-acclaimed books: Raindance Writers' Lab: Write + Sell The Hot Screenplay, Raindance Producer's Lab: Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking, and 130 Projects To Get You Into Filmmaking. Elliot was awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from Open University for services to film education in 2009.

Tanya Habjouqa, visual artist, educator, Nikon ambassador (Jordan)

Tanya Habjouqa is a Jordanian-Texan visual artist, educator, and a member of NOOR Images. Habjouqa's approach to visual storytelling fuses a mordant sense of irony with unstinting, forensic interrogations of the implications of geopolitical conflict on human lives. Her works were selected as a winner at the 2014 World Press Photo Contest. She is in the permanent collections of the MFA Boston, Institut du Monde Arabe, and Carnegie Museum of Art, and is represented by East Wing Gallery. She has served on the jury of the World Press Photo Contest and Pictures of the Year International (POYi).

Heba Khamis, visual researcher (Egypt)

Heba Khamis, an Egyptian independent visual researcher, concentrates on sensitive or taboo social issues related to the body, including mental and psychological well-being. She is a 2020 Catchlight Leadership Fellow. Her work has been selected for several international awards, including the World Press Photo Contest in 2018 and 2019. Since 2020, Heba has been represented by NOOR Images. She carries the ethics of traditional documentary form, with strong belief in the need of involving protagonists more in the creation process, to give them the chance to express themselves and interact in the telling of their story.

Gorky M, photographer, filmmaker, educator (India)

Gorky M started his career as a documentary filmmaker before he went on to assist Kundan Shah, one of the most renowned feature film directors in India. He has worked on six feature films and over a hundred ad films. He directs and produces for his own production company which makes content for many leading International networks. He also teaches photography and filmmaking via his YouTube channel – GMax Studios.

Yurie Nagashima, photographer, writer (Japan)

Yurie Nagashima is a photographer and writer born in Tokyo. She graduated from California Institute of the Arts in 1999 with a Master of Fine Arts in Photography. In 2001, her photo book Pastime Paradise was recipient of the 26th Kimura Ihei Photography Award, and in 2020, she was the recipient of the 36th Higashikawa Awards' Domestic Photographer Award. Recent publications include a book titled from their Girls Photography to our Girly Photography and a photo book titled Self Portrait. Her major exhibitions include And a Pinch of Irony with a Hint of Love (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, 2017). She is also involved in photography education at Waseda University and Kyoto University of the Arts.

Wing Shya, photographer, film director (Hong Kong)

Born in Hong Kong in 1964, Wing Shya founded the design studio Shya-La-La Workshop after graduating from the Emily Carr Institute. Shya ventured into still photography when he started working for film director Wong Kar-Wai in 1997, for his renowned movies Happy Together, In the Mood for Love, and 2046. Shya continues to collaborate with him to date, exploring into the realms of directing movies and commercial videos.

Gilmar Smith, photographer, digital artist (U.S.A.)

Gilmar Smith is a photographer and digital artist specializing in stylized creative portraiture and conceptual children's photography. Her unique approach was developed while photographing her children and turning their pictures into fantastic adventures. Her style is defined by her creative use of color, joy, and humor in her images.
Her work has been featured in many publications and podcasts. She is a KelbyOne instructor and writes for Photoshop User Magazine.

Matthew Jordan Smith, photographer, Nikon Ambassador (U.S.A.)

Matthew Jordan Smith is an American photographer with three decades of experience working in entertainment, fashion and beauty. Matthew has taught at the School of Visual Arts and the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. He has appeared on The View, Good Day New York and BET, was guest photographer and judge on America's Next Top Model, and is the host of the photography podcast "Master Your Lens" found on iTunes. He is the author of three books, and in September of 2020, his work debuted at the Kyoto Museum of Photography in Kyoto, Japan.