Tyrell Hampton Knows How to Capture a Good Time
The rising photographer charts his path from sneaking backstage snaps to becoming one of fashion’s most in-demand party chroniclers.
“I grew up dancing literally 24/7. It was just school, dance, school, dance, home, no sleep, studying,” says Tyrell Hampton, who spent his childhood training to be a professional dancer. “When you don’t have social engagements when you’re young, you chase them when you’re older.” In the handful of years since he moved from Philadelphia, where he grew up, to New York City, the now 25-year-old photographer has done more than just go after good times—he has built a career out of capturing them. It started organically, as he developed friendships with like-minded people while he was a photography student at Parsons School of Design. “I was photographing whatever I was doing at the time because I was just so grateful to be in those moments of, like, ‘We’re at the club! Oh my gosh, and I’m in New York!’ ” he says. While interning at magazines and production companies, he got into the habit of “irreverently taking photos in places where I shouldn’t have been,” like backstage at fashion shows. These days you might catch him—fully credentialed—at celebrity-packed galas for the Met or the Academy Museum. He has also built quite a following on TikTok, where he shares videos of himself dancing, traveling, or joking around with his model pals. But he has his sights set beyond nightlife: “My first love was video, so I want to get back into making films,” he says. “And also more tangible things, like books and zines—things that people can have.”
“I grew up Muslim, so there’s a period of time in my life when there literally are no images, because my mom was so strict about it. But in the early stages, when I was first born, there are so many photos,” Hampton says. “This is just me in a whole new outfit at Picture People, enjoying the camera with my little widow’s peak and my thick eyebrows.”
Hampton met Kendall Jenner “from shows and stuff,” but they were formally introduced by Hailey Bieber. The candid at right is from Jenner’s friend Stassie Karanikolaou’s birthday in Los Angeles. “I was running by and saw her entangled by accident, and then she entangled herself more.”
Model Jordan Daniels (right, with model Iris Law) is one of Hampton’s closest friends. “I’m always at her house, with her cats, and we watch movies,” he says. “She’s a huge Marvel fan. If I’m not with her, then I’m, like, by myself at a bookstore.”
“This is during Paris Fashion Week at the Saint Laurent atelier,” Hampton says. He walked into the party and saw Shalom Harlow perched on the couch next to stylist Donte McGuire and got the shot. “They also had these amazing burgers that are not pictured.”
“He’s actually so crazy, my Capricorn king,” Hampton says of the actor and musician Dominic Fike (above). “I first met him on a shoot so long ago, before he was on Euphoria, and we really bonded. Now he’s sponsored by Saint Laurent, and I get to see him way more often because the brand is kind of like, ‘You have to go to these events!’ ”
Hampton ran into “the new bestie duo” Alexa Demie (left) and Taylor Russell in an elevator, on his way out of the Loewe party in Paris. “I don’t know how I get into any of these things, because my name is never on the list, but I just somehow end up there.”
When asked what sets his work apart, Hampton points to two aspects of his character: “I’m attentive, and I’m a fan,” he says. “I absorb people’s energy and their personality so that I can hopefully understand what image they would want to represent themselves. And I love social media and pop culture just as much as they do, which makes me both an outsider and an insider.” Above: Rosalía at a Met Gala afterparty.
Lydia Campanelli and Addison Rae.
“I feel like Paris is like Miami in that it only gets crazy during this specific week when a lot of fashion people take over,” Hampton says, comparing Fashion Week to Art Basel. “I fell in love with the city this time around. I think it’s amazing how fashion lets everyone travel the world with each other. It’s basically a school trip with all your friends.” Iris Law.
Hampton snapped this photo of model Paloma Elsesser at a Met Gala afterparty at Carbone in 2021. “Virgil Abloh was DJing with Zack Bia. Heron Preston was there…so many people. There was sadly no food at this party, but I am a Carbone girl. I can’t get a reservation, still, but YOLO.”
Hampton became acquainted with Lourdes Leon through the professional dance world, while he was in college. “She was also a dancer, and so we chatted about dance all the time,” he recalls. “This photo is from a random grungy downtown party at a bar on Chrystie Street. All the skaters were there, so obviously I showed up.”
“This is Miss Kylie Jenner, my Leo queen, at the Balenciaga afterparty in Paris. I went up to her and was like, ‘We met before.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my god; I’ve seen you on TikTok,’ which is always a nice introduction. Because I’m like, ‘Okay, then you know my personality.’ ”
Hampton (above) and fellow photographer Quil Lemons met while they were in high school in Philadelphia, and they became closer when they were in college. “Quil made these shirts, and he used to just give them to us,” Hampton says of the tee he’s wearing here on a late-night walk through SoHo. “That’s when we were broke, and we would be like, ‘Okay, we’re just going to go to Checkers or Han Dynasty for food’—those sort of vibes.”
Gossip Girl costars Evan Mock (left) and Eli Brown run in the same downtown party circuit as Hampton. “I think I was sitting talking to a boy, minding my own business, and these two were making faces at me,” the photographer says of this image. “It was just one of those moments where I was like, I need to take a photo of this.”
W has commissioned Hampton to shoot a number of events over the past few years, including the magazine’s 50th anniversary party at the Chinese restaurant Shun Lee West. Among the guests were Pharrell Williams and his wife, Helen Lasichanh (left), and Emily Ratajkowski (top). “I kept bringing people to this fan by the bathroom,” Hampton says. “I just love a wind-in-hair moment.”
At the September 2021 Met Gala, Hampton was one of a handful of photographers with access inside the museum. But everyone knows the real action happens at the afterparties—and, of course, he’s there, camera in hand. Above and below: Bella Hadid and Olivia Rodrigo at Zero Bond in May 2022.
“I don’t know what was more iconic: Diana Ross or this Sagittarius-and-Cancer linkup,” Hampton says of the Internet-breaking shot he captured of Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber (top) at the star-studded Academy Awards Gala this fall. Above: Director Luca Guadagnino with Taylor Russell at the same event.
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