About Stephen Lang

I grew up originally in Queens New York and then years later through travel in New Mexico I found my eye. And my soul. In my teens and early twenties music and designing graphics helped me to find an avenue for expression. Not being educated in either I depended on others to help me finish my ideas. But once I found photography I found something that I could do from start to finish. Here too I didn’t go to school for it but learned on my own. I have learned much of the technical side from those that I shot with who have taught me a great deal. My eye and sense of composition are mine. That is something I found a long time ago and watched it progress and continue to do so. 

I am a freelance photographer. I am on staff at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in NYC. I have traveled a great deal in the Southwest and have been photographing it’s landscape’s, ruins and Native Americans past and present for well over 15 years.

My work seems to appeal to an audience as eclectic as my imagery. The work has been used by an equally eclectic group. My client base ranges from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (where I am on staff) to the NY Times and LI Pulse Magazine and with sales ranging from California to Germany my work is being seen by a wide range of discerning eyes.

One of my favorite quotes is “Nothing is more important than the existence of what does not exist” by John Hawkes. This pretty much sums up my shooting philosophy. To create what isn’t seen or more important what isn’t there. To find something and be able to capture a variant that creates a new version of the original.

I am fascinated by what makes up a total image. The parts of something that can by themselves be a complete image. The abstractness of a section of flower or instrument or whatever else I see and shoot. To either fill a frame with it or allow it to wander and surround itself with negative space. Both being unique unto itself. Both allowing the viewer to wander with what I have created.

I live and die by my eye. It is what propels me into whatever world I choose to shoot in. Success or failure it is all about the vision. The vision is mine but the emotion is yours.

 I have very eclectic tastes and keep looking for that one unique direction and moment that makes me stop and gasp. I have not found it yet. Until then I will keep searching, shooting and hoping that perhaps you have stopped and gasped at what I have created.

My photography to me isn’t simply a face value representation of what is in front of me. It incorporates my vision, beliefs, respect, humor and spiritual guidelines. It can go from faithfulness and truth to an abstraction of what I see. In much of what I shoot I try to honor what is and who is there. A documentation of  what and who exist and what and who once existed. A love for that which I am connected to. A way to connect with what I see, and to help others connect as well. There are no coincidences in life. Only connections.

Peace,

Stephen Lang