Hot Flash Photography Isn’t Going Anywhere… and It Shouldn’t Have To.

⚡The Return of Hot Flash Photography ⚡
…and why it never really left.

If you've noticed a wave of direct-flash, red-eye, high-contrast images flooding your feed lately, you're not alone. Hot flash photography is back—and it's louder, bolder, and more unapologetic than ever.

But this isn’t just a trend. It’s a reference.

This aesthetic has deep roots in '90s fashion photography—think Juergen Teller, Corinne Day, Nan Goldin. Photographers who traded in the polished look of the past, for the raw emotion of the "now" -- photos that felt like they weren’t taken, but caught.

Back then, hot flash was rebellion. It was grit. It was intimacy without softening the edges. And today? It's doing the same thing all over again.

In fashion, it’s a way to reject perfection and reclaim realism.
In weddings, it’s becoming a way to document joy without staging it. Real people, in real time.

This has always been a style I’ve leaned into—long before the algorithm caught on.

There’s something about the immediacy, the imperfection, the energy.

Sometimes the best image is the one that feels like a beautiful mistake.

What do you think—are we drawn to this look because it reminds us of a different time? Or because it lets us be more fully in the moment?