We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful D’Marco Turner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with D’Marco below.

D’Marco, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

The Skill I learned is the overall skills it takes to know photography as a whole. I picked up Film photography as my very first lesson! I learned how to shoot a film camera with a bunch of practice & watching YoTube videos that taught me how to work the camera I had to shoot with. Knowing what I know now? I honestly would say photography is a craft where it’s gonna hurt to learn because of the long process but it’s no other way that I would take other than the lane I chose. Film photography & digital is a far but narrow road of skill to learn but film taught me the nuts and bolts of what a Digital camera does to take the best image it is programmed and built to do! I learned how the sun operates in different seasons to how light works with your very own camera. I think the most essential skill is lighting. When figure out lighting? You know how your picture will look at all times. You know what gear to use to what film you have to use to get the most perfect shot! I stood in my way as an obstacle and not always knowing how my picture looked from the moment I took the first photo of my model, I’m always my biggest critic & perfectionist, and not seeing my art as soon as I take the first photograph. It worries me but it helps me with my confidence it still is the biggest learning curve when taking pictures as a very well-known film photographer first and foremost.

D’Marco, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is D’Marco Turner! Better known as Marco or PhotoByMarco! Raised on the North side of St. Louis Missouri but better known as “North County” if you ask anybody from St. Louis. I have White, Black, and Panamanian Lineage flowing through me which divided my interests all over the place. This brought me a constant curiosity about my ancestors, my past, and What did people do to keep this information alive. I would try to find Baby pictures and anything I could find to see who I was when I was a child and who was around but I couldn’t find much. So 2020, during the horrid Quarantine as so I thought, caught me in a moment of watching a YouTube video in which a guy was talking about photography but not just any kind… it was Film photography. After watching that Video? I was fully convinced a Heavy Metal, Old, and Vintage Camera that was gonna take time to learn was what I wanted to shoot with first… it was a Minolta SRT 201; now look that thing up! That was just the Start! Now? I have developed this year into a Director of Photography which Film being the creative direction that drives my talent. I Offer Services such as being someone’s Personal Freelance photographer to Shooting simple In-Studio shoots. All of the services would be familiar to the average ear but 2020 Blessed me, Film photography is about understanding Light, Color, and most of all understanding your camera because as you may not know? These cameras won’t do the work for you to get the perfect exposed shot! You have to set Your Aperture, ISO, and Shutter speed yourself which leaves you to have to learn the fundamentals to get the perfect shot. I knew this would be pretty rough for most to learn, so to help the community & people wanting to step into Film photography as the surge for it rises, I Give people that are interested and reach out to me? Lessons on how to use, and operate a Film camera and I provide one of the best entry-level film cameras I know from a Minolta x-370 to a Canon AE-1. With that being said, as I Grow in this Film and photography industry? I doubt that I will reach the limits that I put in the work for but I want the impact of photography and Film to grow in St. Louis as a whole too. So as I grow? I’m giving that right back out to the people! I am most Proud of the People that are lurking and seeking help and knowing I have an open hand for them! That I don’t have to be on this road alone. My Brand, PhotoByMarco, is My name only attached to a photo that I took but I look & work to extend a friendly & open community of all talents of all kinds to work on incoming projects! It’s so much that goes into a production or photo shoot and I want others to shine their talents where they are best used! I wanna learn as well as grow.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

This is A Great Question! The biggest lesson I had to unlearn is being a perfectionist in a craft where as soon as you press that shutter button to capture that moment? You don’t know how the photo turned out! If you are exposed properly if you composed properly or even if the camera is working! It’s so much room for failure but little room for mistake. You have a limited number of exposures at your disposal so it’s your choice what you do but each one comes with a cost! I beat myself up pretty hard at the beginning of my journey because I would make mistakes and of course, I can’t hold my shutter button down and take 100 pictures within minutes but I can control what I do with each shot is what I had to tell myself. I had to learn patience with myself, honesty with myself, and know what skill level I was at before trying to excel past where I was because I see others learning fast. There is no such thing as perfect in my eyes but you can tell when you’re pretty damn close!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I See the most rewarding part of being a creative is that you can change the narrative of being a creative to a creator! Within that? You don’t have to create with just yourself! To create is to build and it’s so many others within my city that want to express themselves in a way that only they can explain but now they are not alone!

Contact Info:

• Website: PhotoByMarco.com
• Instagram: Www.instagram.com/Photobymarcoo
• Linkedin: Www.LinkedIn.com/D’MarcoTurner
• Twitter: Www.twitter.com/Photobymarcoo