We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Guy Stevens a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Guy , appreciate you joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?
Being able to embrace the uncomfortable moments and recognizing them as chances for growth. Those creative projects you avoid working through due to intimidation, fear or technical challenge usually have the biggest payoff on the other side. Push yourself to work through the pain points, try new approaches or just completely blow it up and turn it into something new. If its successful, great. If it fails, also great. Either way, you will come out of it with a new perspective on your work.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I would consider myself as a commercial, editorial photographer and art director. I have a bit of a short attention span and pursue a lot of avenues in photography, but the bulk of my work is in portrait, editorial, commercial and fine art photography. Most of the work I enjoy is created in studio or on location, usually building out lighting setups.
I got into photography in the mid-90s as a teenager. My father lent me his Minolta SRT-101 to experiment with. I grew up on a few acres of land and would go wander about for hours, teaching myself how to see with and use a film camera. I was hooked and pursued the hobby through high school. I took every class that was available to me, shot loads of chain link fences, train tracks, mirrors. All the horrible shots. I think that’s a requirement for high school kids. You didn’t have those shots in your portfolio, you weren’t a real photographer, sorry.
I followed high school with art school and eventually got a BFA. I’ve been lucky enough to work as a staff photographer, designer and art director for various companies and organizations throughout Florida.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
It’s the whole creative process, really. Taking my (or my client’s) idea/concept out of my brain and watching it come to fruition, turn 180 degrees from where it initially started, come to a successful conclusion or just f*cking crash and burn. It’s great. There isn’t really any other profession I see myself doing. In the end, I just really like making stuff that is cool to me and (hopefully) other people.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
I mean, if it’s another revenue stream for artists and people are willing to pay for it, go for it. Artists have been undervalued forever. You find a new way to get your piece, go get it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.guystevensphoto.com
- Instagram: @thisisguystevens
Image Credits
All images credit to Guy Stevens