Stephen Velastegui (b. 1998, Queens, NY) is an NYC-based photographer working across the documentary and fashion realms to define a timid, yet blunt sense of provocation.
Stephen got his start in high school, when his mother gifted him an old point-and-shoot camera. His curiosity as a teenager led him to photograph the nuances of everyday life, committing to a vernacular approach. His earliest works, made backstage at fashion shows and parties from his adolescence, would eventually build the foundation of his visual language. Heavily inspired by his upbringing in Ridgewood, Queens, Stephen utilizes an array of melancholic motifs in his work to explore the notions of time, intimacy and liminality.