We were lucky to catch up with Danny Stygion recently and have shared our conversation below.

Danny, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I have been doing photography and videography on the side for 20+ years. I’ve worked various primary jobs during those years, such as being a waiter (my first job), strip club manager, private security, among others. My last job was a 9 to 5 corporate job where I did scheduling for 200+ people. I worked for this company for 13+ years. This scheduling job was very stressful and would cause me chest pains from time to time. On the side, I continued to do photo shoots, make short films, and I managed to make a feature length horror film. The horror film led to an opportunity to do a series of films on mental health for the University of Houston-Clear Lake, which then led to opportunity to do photography and video production full-time. It was a hard decision, but I left my safe corporate job to pursue my passions: photography and filmmaking. Another factor that played into my decision was that some of my friends around my age were dying for various reasons, and this motivated me to get moving with my goals. September will mark my first full year doing what I want to do.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a full-time filmmaker, photography, and magazine publisher. I’ve directed 10 short films and 2 feature length films. I’m currently in the middle of production on a new full length documentary called Dominatrices, and a full length survival horror thriller film, One Last Trip. Both of those films should be out by 2025. I also am a fetish photographer and magazine publisher. I started doing photography in my twenties and my work has been published in magazines, such as Marquis Magazine, Skin Two Magazine, Hustler Magazine, Retro Lovely Magazine, and more. I am the founder of Sinical Magazine, which was launched in 2010.

I have recently shifted part of my focus to my YouTube channel (@dannystygion) where I produce content focused on fetish photography tutorials and podcast episodes for Sinical Magazine.

I’m most proud of achieving my Mount Everest goal of making a feature length film, and I’m also proud that I have achieved my goal of doing my passions full-time.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The Goetia Diaries took over a year to film. We shot the movie on weekends when our actors were available and worked with the resources we had. It took around 17 months to make my full length documentary on Houston’s burlesque scene, which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. I’ve realized over time that making a full length film is like running a marathon. It’s definitely not a sprint. You have to have a lot of patience and endurance to make it to the finish line. If you can just keep making little bits of progress and applying pressure over time, you will eventually finish your project.

How did you build your audience on social media?

The social media accounts for Sinical Magazine were built up over time through constant promotion of the magazine and help from the models who were featured in the magazine. We quickly gained 40k+ followers on Facebook and Instagram and kind of peaked out once we hit those numbers. We are unfortunately dealing with shadow bans and content restrictions that we have to constantly appeal, which has slowed down our momentum of building our audience, and we have lost a few thousand followers in recent years. I think it’s also very important to have an email list, just in case one of your social media accounts ever go down. You will always have your email list.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stygion.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@sinicalmag
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sinicalmag
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-stygion-712126105/
• Twitter: https://www.x.com/@sinicalmag
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dannystygion

Image Credits

Masuimi Max, Dita Von Teese, Brittany Stygion, Emily Marilyn, Valentina J’adore, Cyrus Faircloth & Jay Short, and Ghoulia Child.