Name? Steven Carty Age? 33 Job/ Position? Professional Photographer, Director Hometown? Toronto, Ontario, Canada Website? www.stevecarty.com What was your first setup? First setup? As in lighting? Idea? Wow, I've been doing set ups in studio as well as location photography for the last 13 years.. my first set up was in photography school. It was a crazy idea with newspapers as a backround, a 6x4 foot softbox boomed from above, and my first professional male model. Shot on hassleblad with Kodak plus X 125. It was pretty sick. Early on it was all black and white and colour cross processing... that was my look. Circa 1990-91. What are you using nowadays? I still shoot hassleblad, although I don't cross process anymore. I travel a bit between NYC, LA, and here, I shoot primarily Kodak films, print on Kodak paper, scan 8x10's and work on them further with photoshop 7 on a PC. Soon I'll be adding a 6 mega pixel SLR into my gearbag. Main influences / sources of inspiration? Here is the list... inspiration: Bob Marley, my brother Leslie Carty [artist], my family, Jeans Michel Basquait, early Herb Ritts, Avedon, Albert Watson, Sacha Waldman, Stephen Stickler, and Helmut Newton. Influences? I'm pretty set in my ways... you can't influence a Rastaman. Favourite magazine? Dazed and Confused, Complex, Vibe 96-99, Mass Appeal, Pound, Photo... there are so many. Too many to list here. Up-and-coming photographer? Benjamin Jordan Current exhibitions? Next year. Carty 1994-2004 retrospective. Current projects? Editorial, Editorial, Editorial. Here are some magazines that i have flicks in or working i'm working on projects for them: Pound, YM, The Source, Toro, Fashion18, Butter, and Urban Detour. What's the most annoying part of your job, if there is such part? [Laughing my Ass off] hmmm am i allowed to say the clients? Really its like this.. i get paid for more than just being a picture maker... i get paid to generate ideas, and execute on demand. I put more pressure on myself than any client ever could... whats frustrating is when a client doesn't know what it is exactly that they want, so i deliver what i think is the lick... and it goes over their heads... only to be discovered to be the "coolest" months later... its hard being the one that sees, and then explaining what that vision is over and over... it dilutes the whole process... Later whats funnier than the client saying it was their idea? Jokes. Were you trained in photography or was it just a case of trial and error? In case of any school, do you recommend it? Picasso said this, "Every child is born an artist, the problem lies in remaining one once one grows up" I started taking pictures with a 35mm SLR when I was 14. By 17 I knew what I was to do with my life. Be a photographer. I took photography class throughout high school, [East York Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Canada] and took a year off at graduation to work within the industry... I sold cameras at Blacks and gained my confidence in working with strangers, and then went to Ryerson Polytechnical University in Toronto where I studied under the best professors this country has to offer. Ryerson was humbling... I really thought I knew it all. I had studied art history and photography in high school so I was more prepared than most for my high demand courses at Ryerson. I left after 2 years and started my first studio. Any handy hints for a rookie photographer? Shoot pictures. Look at pictures. Stick to one film until you get your look...Professional photography needs to look like it has high production value even if it doesn't... You're only as good as your book [portfolio] so if you aren't working on your portfolio, you aren't working. Look at portfolios that working photographers are using... try to see some actual books so you can see what your competition is doing. Most young photographers almost puke when they see my book... But they don't realize that you cant ever stop striving... I never rest. I'm always hustling... trying to get more clients and make memorable pictures... I still see books in New York that make me weak...its good. That keeps me sharp... keeping my feet on the ground and reaching for the stars is how I live every day. I am what I am. I'm a Rastaman. My vision. My life.