I’ve been thinking a lot about the “why” when it comes to my photography. I don’t mean in the sense that it is unclear to me, but in the sense that I feel like it’s unclear to you, the viewer.

Hudson Yards, New York City

I’ve had a fascination with cameras from a very early age, but I didn’t get my own until I was about 19. It was a Sony Cyber-Shot with a whopping 3.2 megapixels. I had no idea what I was doing, but I took pictures of whatever piqued my interest—a sunset, raindrops on a window, reflections in puddles. I suppose these were the same things that caught my eye as a kid; things that I either couldn’t describe, or couldn’t really get someone else to see the same way that I did.

In a way, I think I’m still doing that. I still photograph reflections in windows, in mirrors, and in puddles. I love seeing how light spills out of doorways and windows at night, I love silhouettes and shadows, and I love the interesting ways we fit into the world around us. I think that the stories I tell with my photography always feature these themes, but maybe not in the most cohesive way.

Chinatown, New York City

Downtown Los Angeles

Financial District, New York City

When I started getting into photographing live music, I started looking for what I love there, too. My favorite photos from concerts always feature isolated performers, silhouettes, or moments of scale that make us feel like tiny moving parts in a massive machine. It felt so amazing to be able to extract a fraction of a second from a performance and make it permanent. A dear friend of mine once said “your photos make it feel like you’re in love with the artists” and I wasn’t sure about that then, but I’m sure of it now. I take pictures because it’s an act of love and care. It’s a way for me to share the things I love seeing. Look at how many times I’ve mentioned “love” in this post; it wasn’t deliberate, but I can’t help it. I love when the sun hits the streets just right, and I love when a photo feels like an adventure, or like the best part of your favorite song. I try to package the awe that I feel in the moment and present it to you. These aren’t just photos of people walking, or buildings, or people with mics and guitars—they’re sources of joy and wonder, and I wish you could see them the same way I do.

Bleachers at Brooklyn Steel

Depeche Mode at Madison Square Garden

This is probably one of the many sources of my frustration when it comes to doing this professionally. I just want you, viewer; you, editor; you, fellow photographer—I want you to see how much I care about this, and how much I love doing it. I thought that if you did, maybe you’d appreciate it the way I do. Maybe you’d appreciate me for sharing it with you, and maybe you’d consider hiring me to do it more often. Maybe this is why sometimes, I feel completely overwhelmed by the grind of it all, but I never feel overwhelmed by photography itself. I took my camera out on a walk recently and it was so energizing. I hope you have something in your life that fills you with the same excitement.

DeShaun A. Craddock

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