We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steven Moore. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steven below.
Steven, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
I have always been creative/artistic, but I was put in an industry where creativity does not thrive. Sometimes things in life are meant to happen at a later stage in life, where maturity can handle your creativity, and I believe my progress had to happen later in life. I started working with epoxy and wood in my 30’s and a few years later into photography. I believe if I would have started my creative career earlier in life, say 16 or so, I may have been able to go through the difficult learning curve sooner. It’s possible I would be more successful right now if that was the case, but I can’t say with speculation. I’m just happy I can finally do what I love on a daily basis.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a 34 year old single father of a beautiful 8 year old daughter. I specialize in photography and epoxy/wood artwork. My main clients are the people in the car community, especially my own car club FORDHUB MN. What my work consists of is mostly still images of peoples cars (mostly mustangs) and rolling shots, where I photograph the cars as they’re driving down the road. In my spare time, I build custom tables for an art gallery on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Almost two years ago I bought a Nikon Z50 mirrorless camera, and decided to take it to car events and grab pictures. I’ve always been into photography, but never invested time into it. So I would show up at club meets/car shows and start taking photos. I would get some love from the community on my work, and decided to continue on and try my hand at editing. There were so many clients, that I could barely keep up, the progress was happening and I was learning new ways to shoot and edit. I would upgrade equipment and spend countless hours in front of my computer editing until the late hours of the night/early mornings. When the car show season for 2022 started here in Minnesota, My club members started to message me right away about photo shoots, and have had a very busy summer of doing so. I’m currently working with a close friend to start a new company which will be strictly media based, I.E. automotive/motorsport/high end real estate etc. We are hoping to launch in 2023.
With my epoxy work, I literally started to experiment with resin four years ago, and now have made some pretty nice pieces that I’m very proud of. My current work is mostly gamer based with RGB lighting and geometric shapes. I have an art gallery that has asked me to commission work for them on a regular basis.
When it comes to photography, I believe what sets me apart from the rest of the crowd, is my work ethic and drive to continue to improve and make better imagery. I am definitely most proud of how I started, I came from a place of deep depression and loneliness, but over the last two years have been able to start a very successful car club/community with some of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Also, my business is thriving and I seem to have gained a decent amount of supporters. I was able to come back from a very dark time and build something beautiful for me and my daughter.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I believe this is a very important question especially for the community. The best way to support artists and creatives, is to buy local, don’t haggle with an artist, and don’t be upset about paying more to get a custom piece of artwork, that’s all I have to say about that.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I never want to have to struggle in life financially again. Being poor most of my life has taught me to work as hard as I can to achieve my goals, whether that means staying up until 3am finishing an edit, or pouring an epoxy table once my daughter goes to bed. My whole goal in life is to be able to make everything “my own”. I don’t like doing something that won’t have my signature on it, I have to work as hard as I can to feel like I’ve done everything I can to make something uniquely “me”. My mission is to build a thriving media company where I can travel for work and give my daughter the life I never had.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.epoch-decor.com
- Instagram: epochdecorphotography
- Facebook: Epoch Decor