We were lucky to catch up with Davon Gilman-Bey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Davon, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I Wish I started my career earlier, just to be well versed and have more experience editing. At the time when I started photography my mom didn’t want anything to happen to me based on the area that we lived in where people were getting robbed and a lot of crime was going on in the East Flatbush/Brownsville area. When I finally got the chance to get a camera in 2014 I didn’t have anybody to use as a muse or anything, just a lot of landscapes and self portraits of myself but I finally was able to start something after I took photographs of my first 5 people.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My Name is Davon, I go by Smooveday or Smoove. I’m from Brooklyn, New York and I’m a photographer. I started doing photography in Middle school at Brooklyn Collaborative Studies in Carroll gardens where we had a dark room photography class in the 8th grade which is how I got my love for film even though I did not take anything serious. I like to think that I solve the problems for my clients by getting the job done which is the motto that I use normally for everything. Being a part of their creative process and helping bring their ideas to life is my specialty, having knowledge and knowing skills to advance the process such as doing studio work and knowing how to do those tasks for clients is important. What sets me apart is that I normally can create just about anywhere and have knowledge of different locations for street photography. I like to really make something out of nothing when it comes to creativity by using gems that people don’t think of throughout the tristate area.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I built my audience on social media by being myself and also using locations such as soho and new york fashion week to network. To be honest I’ve always tried to not make anybody uncomfortable or leave anybody with a bad taste in their mouth about me. I was always taught to be a good person to those you don’t know so that it can come back to you in the future. Also using TFP platforms when you first get started is a good way to meet people as well. And last but not least I don’t know if it’s still effective but hashtags also get you noticed from people all over the world, a little thing like #NYCPHOTOGRAPHER will get you more noticed than ever. Believe me I’ve been booked that way from people in Canada, Dubai, Detroit, Atlanta,Tennessee.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFT’s were very cool at first, with the decline of crypto currency such as ethereum. I’ve watched the people making noise go unnoticed because it’s not worth anything anymore. If there was a way I can do a live gallery online to create some type of revenue I would definitely do that to gain exposure but only the future can tell for digital art. I also rather do things off the internet, creating a relationship with somebody in real life is 10x more important.

Contact Info:

• Website: Smooveday.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/Smooveday
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/davon-gilman-bey-b924a261