Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Guidry.
Hi Stephen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up, I was obsessed with skateboarding (I still am). I got my hands on a video camera and started shooting videos of my friends skating since I didn’t have access to a camera that shot stills then. I remember looking through skateboarding magazines and being blown away by how cool these guys looked in the photos. I couldn’t wrap my mind around how anyone could get pictures that looked like they did with wild perspectives like fisheye lenses and angles that made the tricks and riders look larger than life. It left a substantial impression on me.
When I was 18, I moved to College Station. Not to go to school (School was never really my thing). I just wanted to get away from Houston. I had a friend who was a DJ in a small club there, and he asked me to come to shoot some videos of him and recommended that I get a DSLR camera because it was cheap and had good video capabilities. I figured out quickly that I could take some cool pictures, too, which excited me. After a few nights taking pictures of my friend DJing, the club manager took notice and asked me if I would be interested in getting paid to take photos there sometimes, and that’s when I realized I had a good chance of making a career out of photography.
I got obsessed. I read and watched everything I could on compositions, lighting, and directing people from behind the camera. Over the years, I had more and more people hitting me up, asking if I could take pictures for them. I shot anything and everything that I could but eventually got hooked on studio photography. That’s when I started to learn how to see the light and manipulate it to create images that looked as interesting as the extraordinary photos I saw in skateboarding magazines as a kid.
Flash forward to today; I’ve been lucky enough to work with some pretty amazing people and brands I only dreamed of being associated with as a young skateboarder. My photography has evolved since I started more than 10 years ago (a scroll down my Instagram feed will make that point clear). With the added skill of retouching, I’ve let my imagination go wild. Rick Rubin described the urge of an artist’s creativity as finding a small string that piques your curiosity, and for whatever reason, you can’t help but pull at it to see where it goes. I like that description.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No one gets an easy ride when they want to do something outside society’s pre-planned route. I want to say that I always knew I would make it, and to an extent, that’s true. I have always had a lot of faith in my ability to overcome obstacles and turn them into opportunities. That being said, I had times when I questioned if I was in over my head. I’ve slept on couches, taken side gigs that made me miserable to get money to eat, struggled to pay basic bills, and threatened to be evicted more than once. But everyone has challenges, and it always feels like the biggest thing when it’s on top of you. I’ve learned that it’s very rarely as bad as you fear. Our edge is only our edge until we push past it.
Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m an advertising photographer and retoucher specializing in product-focused photography. I like to keep things simple whenever possible. I love making things look like floating, falling, or creating suspense in the image. And that’s what I’m most known for. I’ve also built up a reputation for my retouching abilities which is a rare skill for photographers to dive that deep into because it requires so much time to get good at. I don’t want to toot my horn too much, but I am very proud of how I’ve developed that skill. It’s allowed me to create some cool stuff for my clients and me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stephenguidry.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephen_guidry/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-guidry-photo/
