How a German digital creator's subway superheroes caught the attention of the Biebs

The Joker as generated on Midjourney by @julian_ai_art

Subways have always been fertile ground for photographers – from the seminal work of Bruce Davidson to the late Michael Wolfe’s masterpiece Tokyo Compression. I’ve taken these pictures myself and I’m currently curating a photo book featuring similar images from the DC Metro subway. That ‘s why Julian van Dieken’s images of superheroes on the New York City subway stood out when I saw them on the Official Midjourney Facebook page.

Van Dieken, who is known on Instagram as @julian_ai_art, found himself in the spotlight after his superhero images caught the attention of a couple major IG influencers. He even got a follow from international pop star Justin Bieber. Check out my interview with van Dieken on my Substack newsletter.