With ‘Last Call’, Photographer Tyrell Hampton Hangs Up His Get together Hat

Photographer Tyrell Hampton would describe himself as a “late bloomer.” The Philadelphia native—who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York capturing covers and campaigns with Kylie Jenner, Hailey Bieber, SZA, Rosé, and plenty of extra—was a classically skilled dancer when he moved to New York City at 17 years previous. “My personality was: dance, school, family,” Hampton says. “All of these milestones of your high school and middle school years, I didn’t have—no social life, I didn’t smoke, and I didn’t have my first drink until I was 23 or 24.” Then, like so many artists earlier than him, Hampton found the hedonistic, up-all-night vitality of town that by no means sleeps. With a point-and-shoot digicam in tow, he’d doc wild nights out with mates like Lola Leon, Odessa A’zion, and Gabbriette. Each of the photographs is infused with playful uninhibitedness—his signature, which makes you’re feeling such as you’re proper there on the dance flooring along with his topic. “I didn’t realize how much of a childlike spirit I had to give to the world, how much I wanted to be carefree and ride my bike, letting the world be my oyster,” Hampton remembers (for what it’s price, as of late, he can nonetheless be discovered driving his bike throughout the Williamsburg Bridge on TikTok for his 1.6 million followers). “I was being crazy, having a good time, letting the city inspire me. Now, I’m almost 30. I’m hanging up my party hat. It’s time to make things more intentional.”

That’s the concept behind his newest mission—a self-published guide of images from 2016-18 titled Last Call. The 300-page tome paperwork the downtown Manhattan scene of the mid-aughts, and captures that distinct mixture of mischief and liberation that floods your veins whenever you let your hair down with mates. In the photographs, Lily-Rose Depp makes out with author Eileen Kelly, Barbie Ferreira lights a cigarette, and A’zion—in an image from a nighttime dim sum outing—cheekily stuffs a dumpling in her mouth. “We were so young, and to see everyone’s accomplishments since then is gratifying,” Hampton says. “It’s like a yearbook of memories. Gabby is in it a lot. And now, she’s engaged! She’s almost married. Who knew that, for one, she wouldn’t have bangs; and two, she’d star in a movie?”

There will probably be second and third volumes within the collection, however Last Call, which formally goes on sale June 30, serves because the opening chapter. A corresponding Last Call exhibition will even be on view from Friday, June 26, to Saturday, July 18, at Dashwood Projects within the East Village.

Hampton describes sifting by way of the archives to decide on images for Volume One as “a little ride.”

“It’s been a tender, emotional experience, realizing how much I relied on the city and its energy to give me inspiration and my muses,” he provides. “Growing into my identity as a photographer, I saw it as a challenge: how can I mimic this energy that I give and receive through my community and going out in New York, in different ways?”

It’s protected to say he’s achieved that finish, having shot Dua Lipa, Alex Consani, Glorilla, Selena Gomez, and Kaia Gerber with a surprising sense of closeness. “It’s time for me to not rely on outward things and ask, what do I actually want to create? How do I see the world? It’s been a long time coming.”