Cruz Valdez

Cruz Valdez is a New York-based photographer who has an affinity for bringing fantasy to form. Her love for fashion developed in her formative years after studying the severity and glamour in the pages of publications like Vogue Italia, Self Service, and Vogue Paris, as well as being inspired by 1960’s cinema.  

She started photographing models in her apartment after she moved from California to New York in 2016. She also began shooting members of her community in an ongoing portrait series that still inspires much of her work today. As a trans woman, Valdez has further explored identity & representation which remains a pillar in her work. The intimacy, signature sharpness and tension between light & darkness she channeled in these early collaborations can now be seen today on the cover of magazines like GQ, Vogue Japan, Interview, Purple and Dazed, among others.

She has also shot for top global fashion brands including Marc Jacobs, Carolina Herrera, Dion Lee, Savage Fenty, as well as Bottega Veneta. Valdez’s distinctive style and exacting eye position her as one of the most recognizable new talents in photography today.