The Story

 Photographer Austin Visschedyk has never lived a normal life. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he threw himself into the glamorous, fast paced world of celebrity - sagely cultivating money and influential friends at an age when most kids are just starting to go through puberty. At twelve years old, Visschedyk was the youngest ever successful paparazzo, a title he held on to for six years, eventually gaining national recognition. Then came the articles in The New York Times, GQ and Teen Vogue, the friendships with celebrities, and eventually Visschedyk found himself as the subject of a documentary by Adrian Grenier. These photographs represent a time when Austin Visschedyk was truly living life in the fastest lane, all before he even knew how to drive.

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 It all began when Visschedyk, aged 7, was gifted a point and shoot Nikon camera from his mother - his fascination with capturing images aligned perfectly with being a child in Hollywood. After a fateful day in which a young Austin met Paris Hilton and found himself trapped with her under the blaring lights of paparazzi, he had an epiphany, he knew what he wanted to do. In 2006 at the age of 12, Visschedyk was chasing the perfect shot. Being a kid had its advantages, he used his wild imagination to pull stunts no adult, save James Bond, could dream of: wearing disguises, breaking into hotels, discreetly hiding cameras in Starbucks cups and placing them near his subjects. The novelty of what he was doing, at the age he was doing it paid off - his subjects were as fascinated by him as he was of them. Who was this kid staking out a nightclub at 3am for a shot of Britney Spears? In a world before social media and influencing, Visschedyk was seeing money like no other kid in town, selling his photographs for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars.

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 As the years passed, Visschedyk continued down this unusual road of success, now with a driver's license and the hard earned trust of famous Los Angelinos. Eventually he was being paid by celebrities to take photos of them, and the gig supplied him with a rush like no other.

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 By now a teen, he could do what he wanted, where he wanted, whenever he wanted, with pockets full of cash. No other seventeen year old had this kind of freedom and spontaneity - and he had earned it himself. He had also become the subject of a documentary - Teenage Paparazzo, a huge success at the Sundance Film Festival, which had been filmed over the span of several years as Visschedyk made a name for himself. There were even talks of a reality show in development, but Visschedyk was eventually disillusioned with the idea, not wanting to live the unrealistic and scripted life so many of his own subjects had undergone.

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 Adulthood hit, and Visschedyk continued to make enterprising choices. He worked for some time as a TV news stringer - instead of chasing celebrities down San Vicente, Visschedyk was now chasing information from police scanners. When the job became too precarious Visschedyk transitioned over to more artistic forms of photography.

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 His studio now focuses on portraiture, fashion, and the occasional film project.

With one eye always trained on a viewfinder, Visschedyk has no plans to stop capturing the illusive heartbeat of Los Angeles & other cities around the world in the immortal form of photography.