In his first self-published monograph, Last Call Vol. 1, Tyrell Hampton looks back at the friendships, parties and downtown New York scene that shaped both his coming of age, early twenties and his photography career.

A decade ago, Tyrell Hampton was photographing his friends on nights out across downtown New York, long before many of them became familiar names in fashion, art and music. Gabbriette, Paloma Elsesser, Odessa A’zion and a cast of artists, musicians, models and creatives appear throughout Last Call Vol. 1, the photographer’s monograph containing images shot between 2016 and 2018, not as the public figures they’ve since become, but as teens and twenty-somethings moving between bars, clubs, apartments, street corners and afters. 

Hindsight has given these images a new meaning. The people in them have grown. Some of the relationships captured in the book have endured, others haven’t. The venues that formed the backdrop to Hampton’s images, including China Chalet and The Sanitarium, have since closed, while the downtown scene that shaped a generation of young creatives has all but disappeared.

Published in a limited edition of 500 copies, Last Call Vol. 1 is Hampton’s first self-published monograph, bringing together 300 pages of photographs taken during his formative years in New York. More than a record of nightlife, the book traces the beginnings of the photographic language that would come to define his career, documenting the friendships and creative community that surrounded him before success entered the picture. The title refers to the final call before a bar closes, but for Hampton it also marks a personal turning point: a farewell to a chapter of his life spent finding his footing in New York, in photography and alongside the people who shaped both.

Below, we catch up with the photographer after the launch of Last Call Vol. 1 in Climax books in London.

You launched the book at Climax in London. How did it go? 
It was amazing. The book launch went really well. A lot of people bought the book, and a lot of supporters came. I had this one girl who was like fifteen years old come and I was just like you’re just a baby!

How did the project start? What made you pick up a camera in the first place?
The images in the book go from 2016 to 2018, so it’s kind of chronicling the beginning of my photographic language as I moved to New York. I first moved to New York [from his home in Philadelphia] in 2015 [when] I graduated, but I think around 2016 is when I actually found my friends and found things that I liked to do and found clubs that I liked to go to. So that’s when I started taking photos and feeling, I guess, more welcomed into the community.

I started making the book in January of this year. I just needed something to solidify that time as what it was, and to make a little yearbook for me and my friends to look back on. It’s just been quite sentimental and it’s like a time capsule.

Why now? How did you decide it was the right time to put them together in a book?
Now I have the income and the monetary resources to really make it how I want it to be. If I tried to make this book a few years ago, it probably wouldn’t have come out the way that I intended it to. Patience really was a big thing. I had the perfect thing for me to look back on and say, this is exactly how I would have envisioned my book.

How did the book launch come about?
I love Isabella and I love Climax, so I walked into the store in New York and left my number with one of her associates. Then she ended up texting me, and I said I’m making a book, I would love to have an opening at your store. I want my book in your store. She was super down and super collaborative and I am really happy about it.

Who are some of the most interesting people you met during those nights?
My best friend Jordan, Jordan Daniels. I met her on a night out at a little bar playing pool. That’s probably one of the most favourite relationships that I’ve gained from these moments.

At what bar did you and Jordan meet? 
Either Sophie’s or Josie’s.

How did you decide what people to take pictures of?
Just go off of energy and people who like are just living the life. I think of who I would want to be if I was to be another person. Or, if I’m in the club, which person would I see myself in, you know? It’s an alternation of things, you’re walking down the street and you see a bad bitch and, you’re like, I’m I also one, you know, and then you have a little energy in yourself because that person has inspired you to walk with confidence. It’s just about confidence.

There’s some pictures of now supermodel Paloma Elsesser. How did that relationship start?
She just, again, has this confidence, this energy. She’s an Aries. So I feel like she’s just very cosmic, but she just has a pull, like a gravitational pull, it’s her energy. You want to know more about her and you want to like be a part of her world. I feel like that energy pulled me in from the beginning. I didn’t know her until maybe like a few years deeper into New York but I would just shoot her whenever I could and she would always be down.

Which club or venue was your favourite when you started this series and why?
China Chalet. For me it’s very reminiscent of maybe Studio 54 and the seventies and the eighties in New York where you were just surrounded by a bunch of creative people, there were no limits, and you could just have fun and be free and dance all night long. It was a community. It felt like going to a family reunion.

Years from now, what do you hope someone in their twenties who never experienced this version of New York understands after flipping through Last Call Vol. 1?
I just hope that they want to go out and have fun and explore. I hope it inspires someone to find their community, because that’s what my book means to me. It’s a representation of me finding my community.

What’s your perfect night out now?
I think I like a nice backyard hang and conversation. I still dance to this day, but I think now I’m more into chats rather than movement and dancing and stuff like that.

What would you advise to someone making the move to a big city or pursuing a creative career?
Just be confident and know what you want is out there. Not knowing is also very beautiful. Being curious is very beautiful. Being naive is also very beautiful. Stay curious, have questions, and if you’re going somewhere and have no idea what to expect, don’t try to figure it out. You kind of just have to lean into the unknown and walk around. You’ll find out the things that matter to you sooner rather than later.