Look at the photographers in this year’s PDN’s 30 class and you’ll find a solid refutation of the idea that “everyone is a photographer now.” Did “everyone” move to Beijing to freelance for the AP with no financial guarantee like Danfung Dennis? Or live out of a mini-van so they could create a major project like Scott Conarroe? Or defy social norms to become one of the only female photojournalists from Gaza like Eman Mohammed? Is “everyone” willing to be as patient as Alex Prager, who put on her own shows when gallerists ignored her? Does “everyone” have 2,250 followers on Flickr like Ben Roberts?

Perseverance and determination are common to all these photographers but equally notable is the individuality of their interests and styles. These photographers have produced long-term projects on music scenes (Lauren Dukoff), orthodox Hasidic communities (Clémence De Limburg), and a mother’s paranoid schizophrenia (Sohrab Hura). They have used the visual language of gritty reportage to shoot cookbooks (Gabriel Stabile) and created photojournalism based on “a sense of feeling” (Andy Spyra). They have used modern image-making techniques to lament the destruction of a centuries-old city (Yang Yi). They tell stories that matter to them in ways that make them matter to viewers.

Yes, it’s true: a lot more people are taking pictures now than when PDN was founded 30 years ago. But only a very small percentage of those people are photographers. We salute these 30 individuals, who are helping to define what being a photographer means today.

PDN’s 30 2010
Levi Brown Alejandro Cartagena Scott Conarroe Sumit Dayal Clémence de Limburg Gratiane de Moustier Danfung Dennis Lauren Dukoff Matt Eich Matthieu Gafsou Marcelo Gomes Deborah Hamon Estelle Hanania Ben Hoffmann Sohrab Hura	Wayne Lawrence Brent Lewin Eman Mohammed Adrian Mueller Nick Onken Alex Prager Thomas Prior Ben Roberts Anna Skladmann Andy Spyra Gabriele Stabile Peter van Agtmael Elizabeth Weinberg Yang Yi Reed Young