STEPHON WILLIAMS / BLACK / PHOTOGRAPHER & CEO/ BASED IN GA
stephonx.com | @stephonx_
| @realstephx
"Back in college I was a very to myself, shy type of person. And I was trying to figure out different ways as to where I can break out of that basically."
Stephon X photography
What was your original intention behind picking up a camera?
My intention behind picking up the camera was really introduce myself to new people, a chance to really get out of my bubble. Back in college I was a very to myself, shy type of person. And I was trying to figure out different ways as to where I can break out of that basically. So photography was one thing that actually led me to meet new people, led me to actually engage in different conversations with multiple people. But pretty much it allowed me just the ability to actually talk to people. Whether it’s about them, about myself, just really getting to know people.
Tell us about your first shoot, give us all the details!
A classmate of mine asked, “Hey, do you do grad photos?” And I was like, not really. But I’m open to trying, you know? So she was like, “Yeah, it’d be cool. It’d be cool, I’m real simple. I only want like three looks or so. So we could like, you know, knock it out.” So we had talked about it and pretty much we set it up for it to be an hour. Now at the time, I didn’t know much about lighting. So I was like, Oh, cool let’s link up at 12 o’clock. And if anyone who’s ever taken a picture, they know it’s 12 o’clock is like the worst time. Well, if you’re inexperienced with a camera is pretty much the worst time to take pictures. So we linked for the shoot at 12 and pretty much pretty much at the shoot, it started raining. So then we had to wait for like three hours. After finish raining we finally got to start shooting around four and during that time, I was actually shocked by how good the pictures were coming out. Around that time it was the golden hour during the time in Tallahassee and we ended up doing all four of her looks and I sent her back a list of like 500 shots.
"A classmate of mine asked, "Hey, do you do grad photos?" And I was like, not really. But I'm open to trying, you know?"
How did you find your sense of "style" as a photographer, and how is it continuously evolving in today's time?
For like the first I want to say five years of my career within photography. I would have the same three to five photographers that I was attracted to their style and pretty much all pull them together to create my own unique style of photography. As far as developing, I feel like I am developing my style even more, the style that I had last year I feel like isn’t the same style that I have this year. And even at times because I don’t like to stick to just one thing. Every single photo shoot, I’m always trying different things, always trying different editing techniques, or trying different poses or concepts. I’m always looking for something new. So I feel like my style is continuously evolving over time.
