Kirill Kuletski is a Russian photographer based in London that explores the process of using photography as a means to capture mood, and to more closely replicate the exact atmosphere which the photographer experienced at the time when the picture was taken. His images specifically focus on situations where the subject being documented becomes a medium which translates the artist’s state of mind into a visual form – one which can be experienced by others, accurately reflecting the feelings and emotions which were originally encountered.

Meike Nixdorf is an amazing photographer who's pictures have just something special to them.  I can't put my finger on it, maybe it's the eerie, abandoned feeling; maybe it's the scope, the impressive feeling of elsewhere you get from looking at them.  Either way, they're the bee's knees.  And here for your reading pleasure, are her words and thoughts.

Tippi Degré is a French woman (born 1990) who spent her childhood in Namibia among wild animals and tribespeople. Her parents, Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, worked as freelance wildlife photographers. During her stay in Namibia, she befriended wild animals, including a 28-year old elephant Abu, a leopard nicknamed J&B, crocodiles, lion cubs, giraffes, and many more. She also befriended the Bushmen and the Himba tribespeople of the Kalahari, who taught her how to survive on roots and berries, and to speak their language.

Frederic Sofiyana was featured on EK for his film work back in 2010. Sofiyana is based in Paris, where he was born, and has some big-name clients such as Clarins, L'Oreal, and Siemens. For his second time on EK, we're showcasing his photography.

Originally hailing from Okinawa, Japan, Akira Asakura's work is simply gorgeous. Asakura incorporates such a strong cinematic narrative in his urbanscapes that it draws viewers into a strange space of wonderment. Quite literally, almost each of Asakura's images look like they could be stills from a Park Chan-Wook film or something.

Bence Bakonyi is a Hungarian photographer based out of Shanghai, China. His beautiful mountainous landscape series, "Dignity", deals with personal identity and existence in an abstract and metaphysical state.

Eefje de Coninck is a Belgian photographer who takes ethereal, languid images. First featured in 2011, here's another dose of her delicately faded, salt-stung work.

Dominik Smialowski is the Polish photographer behind this cinematic project inspired by science fiction. Smialowski collaborated with Joanna Pawłowska on this series drawing from the classic sci-fi film by Stanley Kubrick, "2001: A Space Odyssey".

Creative firm AURUM's Kenneth Kornacki's winter portrait series of his surroundings in Milwaukee.

Lukas Furlan resides in a place called South Tyrol in Italy, where he is loving life, and snapping scenery. His enigmatic capture of still architecture and his various captivation of light prove to be sensually magnetic.

Belgian photographer Bruxelles5 has captured aerial images of the beautiful tulip country, the Netherlands. During the spring, he traveled to the countryside of Anna Paulowna, where they bloom in magnificence.

Jason Gowans is an artist currently based out of Vancouver, Canada who creates three-dimensional structures based on a two-dimensional images. Gowans' work was inspired after observing images of landscapes trying to capture the true vastness and expansive beauty of the Earth. However, without the sense of depth in photographs, the epic and breathtaking nature of the images are subdued. With that, Gowans sought to experiment in creating "sculptural photographs" that we share with all of you today.

[Photo by: Lauren Treece] The beginning is, in fact, finally here. After shifting through exactly 1470 posts for the entire 2012 calendar year, a dozen pots of coffee made, several holes punched in the drywall during heated deliberations, and several concussions suffered from office supplies hurled at each others' heads, we proudly present the third annual EMPTY KINGDOM TOP 100 Artists of 2012!

The avenues of West Berlin whisper the name of a photographer who was born of them. Raised in division, Lisa Wassmann has found herself a brilliant captor of eerie images. Expect silhouettes, fluids and smoke.

Javier Riera's photographic light projections make a round treetop look like a mazed cube. Riera is currently exploring the harmonious relationship between geometry and landscape, using geometry to change our perception of the scenery and objects we thought we knew so well.

Currently based out of Paris, France, Thierry Cohen is considered a pioneer in digital photography and technique since beginning his career in the mid-1980's. In Cohen's newest series, "Darkened Cities", he photographs cityscapes to reveal the night sky that is impossible to see due to modern light pollution. The truth is...these images are actually unattainable and do not exist.

Christophe Negrel is a French photographer whose latest series, Senegal, is an absolute knock-out. His subtle images are curiously atmospheric, a tender approach - faded yet powerful.

Katrin Korfmann catches the similarities and patterns of her subjects by displaying them from a bird's-eye view perspective taken at tremendous heights. It's only when we get close enough to see the details can we truly admire the subject's individuality beyond the collective.

Catherine Nelson is a visual artist who uses the digital medium to paint images together into personal and imaginary landscapes. Trained as a painter in Sydney and London with years of experience in creating visual effects for feature films like Moulin Rouge and Harry Potter, she now has dedicated her skills to her own art work combining the techniques from both these worlds into a new contemporary art medium.

Tom Ryaboi is a photographer based out of Toronto, Canada who loves traveling just as much as he loves photography, and for the most part, the two go hand in hand. Ryaboi's urban photography is quite interesting as it captures the scale of man-made buildings and structures that much of our lives revolves around in the daily rat race nowadays.