The creative industry is impossible to distill: the breadth of work that’s been produced this year, from the Selfie Aerobics show of Arvidya Byström to Elliott Erwitt’s legacy-engaging shots of communist Cuba, is vast. This year, Le Book Connections brought together the most exciting, up-and-coming artists alongside the heavyweights shaping the industry today.

Ronojoy Dam, group creative director at Dazed Media and a panel member judging the recent work of candidates, explains his top picks from the event. “My personal favourites this year span a mix of established names continuing to push the envelope out and emerging talents with strong new voices.

All share a conviction in their markedly individual aesthetics that emphasise personality over polish and showcase international perspectives and alternative realities with a distinctly human touch.”

ELIOT LEE HAZEL

“Hazel’s personal work brought stylish poise and grace to a gritty cinematic texture with his monochromatic metaphors of isolation,” says Dam. The LA-based photographer has shot everyone from Thom Yorke to Ariel Pink and Bat for Lashes, delivering a pensive, distinct vision with his portraits. Hazel consistently produces raw, narrative-led imagery, constructing stories in single snaps.

MACIEK POZOGA

Maciek Pozoga’s Uchronia: The Unequivocal Interpretation of Reality is weaved with fantasy, sci-fi and social commentary. His work jaunts between documentary and fashion photography, producing active and spontaneous shots. “Pozoga”s Uchronia Uchronia project,” says Dam, “Shot in Mali’s capital Bamako, takes spontaneous social documentary into an awesome alternative reality of where folk psychedelia meets sci-fi Africa.”

ARVIDA BYSTRÖM

Speaking about the Dazed favourite, Dam says: “Her digital-fluent work arrives with such an honest and assured aesthetic, that feels fully her own, both beautiful and challenging.” The Swedish artist and Tumblr queen works with candy colours and glitter to subvert gender norms, challenging her audience with images of body hair, men in stereotypically feminine clothing and periods. Working through a queer feminist lens, Byström is the ultimate cyber radical.

MILO REID 

The concept-led still life photographer Milo Reid emulates the wonders of classical photography, with carefully composed lighting and a command of blank space. His work has appeared in AnOther, Wallpaper and Love magazine, and he counts Raf Simons among his wealth of clients. “The photographer’s use of light has an ethereal dream-like quality, and injects a modern experimentalism into classical compositions,” explains Dam. “The idea of pink candy floss on fire never seemed so beautiful.”

OLIVER HADLEE-PEARCH

“Hadlee-Pearch can regularly be seen in the pages of Dazed, but his lightness of touch manages to brace both a sense of natural composition and theatricality,” says Dam. The London-based director and photographer has produced several films for Dazed, including the dark and twisted ‘Viddy Well’ fashion film and sensual shots of Christopher Kane’s SS14 dark and dreamy, floral collection. He’s also created a cinematic ad for Paul Smith and has worked with La Roux, with colourful, tongue-in-cheek videos for Jungle.

VIVIANE SASSEN

With a cult following across the world, the Dutch photographer traces her way through fashion, fine art and photography to exploring everything from Jungian theory, anatomy to Dutch colonialism. “It is always great to see both the fine art inspiration and international outlook that influences her fashion photography,” says Dam.

JENNY VAN SOMMERS

Meshing the low brow with high art, Jenny Van Sommers draws from the sharp geometrics of modernism, Irving Penn and the surreal shapes of Ellsworth Kelly. Her playful aesthetic shines through in the wibbles and wobbles of The Jelly Film. Dam says: “Van Sommers' jelly video, for our cousin-site Nowness, is colourful and fun take on classic still-life tropes. It's cheeky, suggestive and smart.”

ILL STUDIO

The Parisian art direction platform was founded in 2007, evolving to incorporate all aspects of the creative world, including photography, fashion, installation, design, film and print. The design collective’s witty tutorial Another Reality explores the trippy outcomes of augmented reality and the capability of our imaginations combined with changing technologies. “I'm a big fan of Ill Studio's work,” says Dam. “I think they're one of the most progressive, on it and get it design studios around. This Philip K. Dick referencing brand video is clever and still packed with visual attitude.”

STUDIO PRIVATE

Studio Private is a digital imaging studio with a colourful sense of direction, having collaborated with creatives such as Isamaya Ffrench and filmmaker Daniel Sannwald to produce a surreal, texturally layered video peppered with coloured solarisation, CGI tricks and trippy time lapses. “I think Daniel Sannwald is an extraordinary talent, and along with Isamaya Ffrench and Anna Trevelyan, this Camper campaign is one of my favourites of the year in its odd and surprising alt-reality beauty,” says Dam.

ELLIOTT ERWITT

“Erwitt is a Magnum legend, his photos of Che and Castro legendary, so this return to Cuba offers a strangely timeless and surreal portrait of a nation,” observes Dam. 51 years after his first excursion to Cuba to photograph now iconic shots of everyone’s favourite rebel Che Guevara and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Elliott Erwitt returned in July to the communist country slowly changing since the US embargo was lifted. Erwitt is legendary, known for catching decisive moments in stark black and white.