Photo District News | 02.03.09 |

From its inception, our editors and creative director have seen PDN's 30 as an opportunity to get to know the work of photographers we look forward to writing for and about for many years to come—and this certainly isn't limited to the 30 photographers we select for each issue. This year, for example, we made our selection from more than 300 nominees.

These days, the role of photographers in our culture seems to shift constantly thanks to a never-ending stream of technological, conceptual and economic influences. Additionally, the hurdles to creating and distributing photographic images continue to disappear, inviting some worthy new voices into the conversation, but also creating a din that makes it increasingly difficult for talented photographers to be heard (and to build sustainable careers). The emerging photographers on our list this year are not cockeyed optimists; they know and have experienced the challenges, and yet they're eager to commit their lives to photography anyway.

Those of us who've been a part of PDN's 30 from the beginning never tire of hearing honorees tell us how much their selection means to them—we're both grateful for and humbled by our role in encouraging the careers of emerging photographers. For the two new editors this year, our involvement in PDN's 30 has brought into clearer focus our collective mission as a publication devoted to helping photographers succeed. And the view is pretty damn exciting.

Without further ado….

—Conor Risch