As the American Open 2022 competition rolls into its final month—make a note to get your entries in by August 31—we continue to spotlight some of the judges of this year’s contest. Today we meet Caitlin Crews, the Content Development, Community Templates Lead for Adobe Stock, where she works with a global group of artists and advocates for their creative processes within the Adobe Stock community. She is a graduate of Kent State University, where she majored in Photography, Art History and Creative Writing.

We also meet Idris Talib Solomon, a New York City-based photographer who has made images of dancers and gymnasts in Harlem, funeral homes in East New York, muralists in Bushwick, and Black cowboys in Houston. A past winner of the American Photography 35 contest, veteran of the Eddie Adams Workshop, and a Fulbright Fellowship recipient, Solomon also hosts The Black Shutter Podcast.

Both talk about their influences and explain what inspires them, and what they will be looking for in entries to APO 2022.
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Caitlin Crews

As Content Development, Community Templates Lead for Adobe Stock, Caitlin Crews’s focus is on the advancement of creatives through design, visual culture and technology. Crews says that her work with the Adobe Stock team provides her with the ability “to work with a global group of designers and advocate for their creative processes within the Adobe Stock community.”

Crews is a graduate of Kent State University, where she majored in Photography, Art History and Creative Writing. She also received her Master’s in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute and is currently working on a certificate in Strategies in  Digital Culture form the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked as a Curatorial Assistant at the Brooklyn Museum, and at Nautica, where she was a still-life photographer and retoucher.  She was also a design and photo coordinator at Lord & Taylor and Victoria’s Secret. Her curatorial and community projects include Art 4 WTC (2017) and the Northside Festival Block Party (2013-2018).

“Photographer Chris Buck was my biggest photo influence,” says Crews. “I was given the great opportunity to do my photography internship with him while I was at Kent State University, learning both traditional and digital techniques from composition to lighting. Working with Chris really taught me the behind-the-scenes work of studio management and the pre- and post-photography work that shaped the start to my career and the creative work I do now.”

“I find photography to be a great driver and base for most creative work,” she adds. “Having a foundation in photo has really helped me understand what can be a major part of marketing, design, public and fine art. During this contest, I'm really hoping to see photos that are speaking about the current state of the world, along with showing its ups, downs and beauty.”
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Idris Talib Solomon

A former graphic designer, Idris Talib Solomon discovered photography as a hobby that allowed him to express his creativity away from the computer screen. He ended up taking classes at the International Center of Photography in New York. “I signed up for a one-year certificate program because I wanted to be fully immersed in photography,” he says. “I then became a volunteer teaching assistant at ICP, basically so that I could get free information while serving the students.” He then applied for the Eddie Adams Workshop and, at the same time, for a Fulbright Fellowship. “I got into the workshop and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to go to Ghana to document hip hop culture there," he notes.

Solomon has gone on to a career as a commercial and editorial photographer shooting for brands including Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, The New York Times, Bloomberg News, NBC News and Swatch. He’s photographed dancers and gymnasts in Harlem, funeral homes in East New York, muralists in Bushwick, and Black cowboys in Houston, and along the way he was named a winner in the American Photography 35 and 36 competitions. He has also entered the American Photographer Open contest during the past two years. This year he didn’t enter because he was asked to be a judge of the competition. “I thought that was really cool—it was a nice full-circle moment marking where I’ve come as a photographer,” he says.

As for being a judge, Solomon says he likes seeing images with strong compositions. “I like images in which everything is positioned with intention. I’m very composition-oriented because of my background as a graphic designer,” he says. “I’m also drawn to emotion on people’s faces, and I like genuine moments, almost as if the subject of the photograph wasn’t aware the picture was being taken. If the image is a portrait, I like the person in the photograph to be very aware. I like intentionality in photos."