Originally founded by London photographers Imran Ciesay and Solomon Boyede – aka Ciesay and Soulz – as a Tumblr page to showcase their work, Places + Faces later evolved into a series of zines and clothing merch. Deciding to turn their attention to print media, now comes the debut Places + Faces bi-annual print magazine.

Known for their candid images of hip hop royalty – the likes of Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and Frank Ocean – the photographer duo have seen their work go from being showcased on their own social media channels to being on gallery walls across Tokyo, New York, London, and beyond. “We started as a Tumblr where we would upload our photos of musicians,” says the duo. “From there we made merch to promote ourselves which then became a thing where people wanted to buy it. We’ve always been interested in print, we’ve released three mini zines throughout the years and the next step for us was to make a proper magazine that we would release bi-annually and move away from just being on the internet, giving back to the people who have been supporting us.”

“The couple kissing are Nathan and Hazel, who are just an awesome couple and just free. They share each other’s clothes, live together, cut each other’s hair. I just wanted to document their life and how they are as people whilst exploring the themes of love, personal space and expression.”

Translating that intimacy showcased across the duo’s Instagram and Tumblr pages to print, the duo wanted to create a glossy irritation of Places + Faces that captured the energy of their photos and subjects. Combining the duo’s intimate shots of musicians – including exclusive, never-before-seen photographs of Lil Yachty, Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean and Rejjie Snow – with photographs from the pair’s travels across the world, the magazine offers a 360-degree insight into global youth culture, from musical idols to their fans. “The themes in the first issue explore youth culture around the world, like Paris, London, New York and Gambia. We wanted to showcase the people that we like listening to, people we’ve always wanted to shoot and just random people we see on a daily.”

Places + Faces magazine launches on 9th May at Axel Arigato, Soho.