From Dopamine Shots to Dystopian Romanticism
Written by Horváth Ágnes, Editor-in-Chief of Kreatív Magazine
As a teenager, Tünde Valiszka spent her lunch money on Metal Hammer, quietly imagining a future in which her own photographs might one day appear in its pages. At the time, it felt like a distant fantasy. Today, her images are used globally by music labels, brands, and cultural institutions, while her distinctive visual language continues to resonate with an expanding international audience.
Based in London, Valiszka works primarily in the streets, where the city becomes both subject and psychological terrain. Her photographs invite viewers into carefully constructed nocturnal worlds in which everyday figures and artists alike can recognise fragments of their own inner landscapes.
Her relationship with photography began early. At the age of four, she was already taking photographs alongside her mother, a passionate amateur photographer, assisting with developing negatives in the darkroom. Despite this early immersion, her original ambition was journalism. By sixteen, she was hosting her own radio programme at Penta Radio in Dunaújváros.
“The first band I ever interviewed was Ektomorf,” she recalls. “They later signed with Napalm Records, and now I’m photographing one of the label’s most exciting contemporary acts. That feels like a genuine full-circle moment.”
Leaving Home
The idea of leaving Hungary had been present since her teenage years, but it became reality at twenty-one, when she moved to London with just £400 and no external support.
“Like most people my age, I had very little understanding of how life actually works,” she says. “What I did have was a strong internal drive to find my own path. I instinctively felt that London might be the place for that.”
London, she notes, is not a city that welcomes gently.
“It doesn’t embrace you immediately. But it is an exceptional environment for character-building and self-development.”
She worked as a nanny, then in bars, cafés, reception roles, and administrative positions, while learning English to the level required to pass the IELTS exam. This enabled her to enter higher education in the UK, where she completed a BA in Journalism and Media, followed by an MSc in Marketing. She later worked in marketing and eventually became Head of Marketing for a luxury travel company.
Photography initially accompanied her solo travels. She documented cities instinctively through street photography, without a fixed agenda. Over time, however, a coherent visual language emerged organically.
Dystopian Romanticism™
“Dystopian Romanticism is a visual and philosophical framework I developed to explore alienation, loneliness, and psychological tension within contemporary urban life,” she explains. “The work is cinematic, stylised, and emotionally charged.”
Drawing on Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, her images surface latent emotional states shaped by modern cities and perpetual overstimulation. Influenced by Michel Foucault, her work also interrogates how urban space becomes a site of surveillance, control, and invisible power structures, gradually eroding intimacy and autonomy.
“These photographs aren’t documentary in a traditional sense,” she says. “They create emotional and social imprints. I’m interested in the beauty of decay, the poetry of solitude, and the fragile presence of hope within a fragmented, regulated world.”
Valiszka is precise about her position within the industry.
“I don’t operate as a commercial photographer for hire. I build a coherent visual universe. The brands, artists, and musicians who approach me are those who genuinely resonate with that world.”
The Future Already Exists
In a city as saturated with creative talent as London, standing out is a constant challenge. Valiszka, however, reframes the question.
“In London, the real issue isn’t how you cut through the noise,” she says. “It’s how truthful you are to your own vision. Most people follow trends. I focus on building a visual universe.”
A pivotal influence in her development was her long-term mentorship with Dr Gillian McIver, an internationally recognised writer, filmmaker, educator, and visual artist, whom she met over a decade ago while working at a university. McIver later became both her mentor and housemate.
For four years, Valiszka lived with McIver, receiving what she describes as an informal yet rigorous education.
“Every evening after work, we’d sit down with tea and talk. She never told me what to create. Instead, she helped me understand my own worldview and creative voice.”
McIver encouraged her to photograph regularly on the streets, followed by detailed, uncompromising critiques. She introduced Valiszka to art cinema, critical theory, and visual philosophy, grounding her practice intellectually.
“She taught me that if you want to be seen, you have to create work that people simply cannot ignore.”
Initially, Valiszka referred to her images as “dopamine shots”, reflecting their immediate emotional impact on social media. Gradually, this experimentation crystallised into Dystopian Romanticism, supported by deliberate branding and strategic positioning.
“I am a marketer after all,” she notes. “The Blade Runner and Edward Hopper references came from others, not from me.”
Recognition and Expansion
Her first major international commission came from Jägermeister during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working in Malta, she photographed artists affected by lockdowns for the brand’s global Save the Night campaign, explicitly invited to work in her own visual language. This was followed by a collaboration with Adobe for Adobe Express, and the launch of her London-based brand Cyberpunk Photoshoot, positioned as an immersive, exclusive experience.
Unexpectedly, many of her clients came from Silicon Valley, employees of Reddit, Discord, Apple and Google. She photographed a Google team for an internal presentation and created a portrait for the Apple iPhone camera designer, who specifically sought her aesthetic.
“I feel my work exists slightly ahead of its time,” she says. “Brands are only now beginning to recognise it.”
Alongside commercial projects, she has collaborated with festivals such as Dark Malta and photographed the Soho Christmas Lights for three consecutive years. Artists, DJs, and musicians regularly seek her out for visual storytelling aligned with personal brand building.
She has taught at the London School of Photography and lectured on visual storytelling at the University of Roehampton.
“When an artist’s aesthetic is this strong, there’s no real alternative but to pursue it fully.”
A Dream Materialising
In the summer, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Tailgunner approached Valiszka to develop their visual identity. Their upcoming album is produced by K.K. Downing, founding member of Judas Priest, and released via Napalm Records.
“At first, I didn’t grasp how significant the project might become,” she says. “They were looking for an eighties Blade Runner-inspired cyberpunk aesthetic.”
She photographed the band across Soho, the Banksy Tunnel, and Chinatown. The resulting imagery is now used globally, including in Metal Hammer – the same magazine she once saved up to buy as a teenager.
“That moment felt like fulfilment. It’s one of the reasons I became a journalist in the first place.”
The band’s debut single was released in November, with the album scheduled for February. Their rapid ascent has been accompanied by extensive international press, largely illustrated through Valiszka’s imagery. Many commentators already describe them as the Iron Maiden of their generation.
While she occasionally photographs live concerts, Valiszka prefers street photography for its introspection and freedom.
“I don’t chase opportunities. I wait. When the right collaborations come to me, I can set the terms and commit fully.”
Her creative wish list includes a collaboration with Dr. Martens, while musically she dreams of working with Tool.
“The collaboration between Alex Grey and Tool is one of the most powerful artistic unions I’ve ever seen. I hope to find my own equivalent one day.”
Her plans for 2026 include a three-month journey across Asia, documenting nightlife in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bhutan, returning to Nepal, and photographing Chongqing, China’s so-called vertical, cyberpunk city.
Recently, a crypto millionaire offered to sponsor her work, an opportunity she declined.
“This is my heart and soul,” she says. “It isn’t for sale. I know I can do this on my own, in the way it’s meant to be.”