Beautiful: Julian Vankim, A League of his Own

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THE DC COWBOYS IS A COWBOY-BROADWAY STYLE DANCECLUB THAT WAS FOUNDED IN 1994. IT IS A GROUP OF SOME VERY SEXY, RUGGED-LOOKED YOUNG MEN WHO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL, HIGH-QUALITY DANCE ENTERTAINMENT, OFTEN FOR HIV/AIDS CHARITABLE EVENTS. YOU MIGHT HAVE SEEN THEM IN "AMERICA’S GOT TALENT" OR ANOTHER LOCAL SHOW. YOU MIGHT ALSO HAVE SEEN SOME OF THE EXCITING PHOTOS TAKEN OF THE GROUP. IF THAT IS THE CASE, IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN EXPOSED TO THE WORK OF JULIAN VANKIM.

Julian Vankim calls himself an up-and-coming photographer. We’d say that is a modest understatement. At 23 Julian is a rising star in the DC gay community, with a gift to capture the male form at its best, in addition to creating imaginative works of art. As mentioned before, Julian’s work has lead him to become pretty much the regular photographer of the DC Cowboys, but that is only one aspect of this young talent.

When Julian Vankim approached us recently, we were happily surprised by his modesty. It seems easy for a young fellow such as Julian to become arrogant when having success, but nothing could be further from the truth. Initially Julian shared a set of photographs he shot of Shawn Stingel with us. Impressed as we were, we still decided to let this one go and dig a bit deeper in the work by this skilled photographer from Washington DC. We were not disappointed. And when we started a conversation with Julian, he promptly returned our request with a large body of work that took our breath away.

Julian Vankim expressed the wish to be featured on BeautifulMag, but had doubts about the quality of his work and was convinced he would not fit in the same league as most of the other talents you can see on our digital pages. We believed he was wrong. We believed he fit very well in the ever growing group of talented photographers who have found their way to BeautifulMag. In fact, looking at Julina’s work, we believe he is a league of his own. Julian Vankim does not just take pictures of pretty boys and girls. Sure, he can pull off a simple shoot, but what really strikes us is his ability to create something magical, surreal of every photograph he takes. Julian Vankim has been published in some local printed magazines, but his work is currently mostly through several web blogs. He also has won several Model Mayhem awards. Yes, it seems clear Julian Vankim will go places. –BM-

JULIAN VANKIM | BEAUTIFULMAG