Meet Marley Jaye Stephens | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marley Jaye Stephens and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marley Jaye, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I’ve always wanted to grow up to pursue a creative career since I was little. There were times when I thought I was going to be a chef, a painter, a dancer, and everything in between until I found photography. Participating in creative activities was always something I enjoyed but it wasn’t until around the seventh grade that I began to view photography as option. I was being sought out by teachers and local community members to take photos at events. Then after that I started to try to think about what style of photography suits me best and what career options there were for me. I looked into different types of photography such photojournalism, aviation photography, and fashion photography. Then in the seventh grade I was given the opportunity by my middle school photography teacher Ms. Mitchell to take photos the teacher of the year event for our county when I realized I had a passion for capturing people and their emotions in different environments. Then I thought about how today people don’t focus on the emotion of others in images, they just see them from one perspective. Which is why I like to try to showcase the emotion of my subjects through my work.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I like to focus of various areas of photography with my work as well as combining the use of various techniques in order to do so. Visual effects such as light paintings or optical illusions interest me a lot when working on projects. I love taking classes and workshops where I learn more about effective techniques in photography to use to share a message because art isn’t always viewed as something with a voice. I try to share a message through my photography no matter what the subject is. I struggled when I first started to find an effective way to share my work and advertise for myself. During this process I did receive help from my peers and teachers about different ways to go about self-promotion as well as those I’m close with sharing my work with others. In terms of overcoming issues, I’ve faced while growing my brand I’ve always had a great support system to depend on when I doubted my choices. I want other people to know that as a photographer I have a lot of value for the people whom which I work with as well as I want to play a part in conveying your story to others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to Atlantic Station where we could go bowling, watch a movie, eat lunch, and shop. Once we’re there we’d have many options for fun things to do that we could make a day out of. While they’re here if invite them to meet some of my other friends so that we could all get together to have a game day and plays games like Uno, Clue, and Mario Kart. Another day I’d take them to go paint at the Sketching Pad in Conyers and rolling skating at Romp and Roll. The next we could just stay home all day while watching movies and talking to each other. One day we could even go to putt shack for mini golf then Andretti Karting for go kart racing and laser tag. All week I’d just want to focus on making as many memories as I could with them whether that means going out or staying in.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to thank all of my family, friends, and teachers that have supported me along the way and encouraged me when I doubted myself. First, I’d like to thank my parents Bryan and Michele Stephens, they bought me my first camera and have allowed me to explore photography in various ways from the beginning. They have always been there for me and always made sure I knew that if photography was something i was passionate about that that was enough to keep going. My brother Nick has always been there to support me and made sure I made the best of every situation. My entire family has been incredibly supportive of my photography ventures and has only encouraged me along the way. Specifically, I like to shoutout my friends Alana, Maggie, Lillian, Sydney, Tamia, Alexis, Sierra, Josh, and Isaiah for being my models and project partners as I work through all my concept ideas. I would also like to thank my photography teachers from school Mrs. Mitchell and Mr. Benjamin for teaching me essentially everything I know about photography today. Without them I would have very little knowledge about the art of photography as a whole and what opportunities there are for to broaden the reach of my photography.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/marleyjayephotography?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=

Image Credits
Marley Jaye Photography