By Carrie Honaker · Photos by Steven Gray Photography
He shot his first wedding at 17 years old. His mom drove because he didn't have a license.
What started for Steven Gray as a childhood hobby wandering the atrium of the Gaylord Palms Hotel in Orlando, Florida, snapping photos with his mom's pocket camera, became a full-time career in 2017. In between college and full-time work, he followed his passion, arranging objects in a frame every spare moment, photographing weddings on weekends, capturing winter sunsets on the beach, and building real estate listings through his eye for architecture.
A 200-Person Table at an Oyster Farm
But his love affair with the hospitality industry and its fountain of stories sparked in 2015 at a roving supper club event in Apalachicola, Florida. Outstanding in the Field set up a 200-person table at 13 Mile Oyster Farm where Gray witnessed local chefs shucking and cooking the bivalves, farmers sharing their stories with guests. He learned why his friend Terry Strickland — his intro to the niche and founder of Southern supper club Peat & Pearls — championed the farmed oyster so passionately.
"People who make things, whether it's chefs making dishes, or bartenders making drinks, or people who make the raw materials — the oyster farmers, the distillers — they put themselves into everything they make."
He ghostwrites those narratives in images, each photo a conduit between himself, the camera, and the essence of the story.
The Settings That Matter
"There's a few settings that really matter. Any accessories for lighting are just icing on the cake. Taking pictures is a skill that can be taught. I go deeper to capture who someone is… the soul needs to be there. Everything we do is a story, and nobody knows how it will end. Heroes never know that they're the hero. They're just doing their best day in and day out. I try to chronicle people doing the best with what they have, using photography to tell their story," said Gray.
"Deep down most people are kind of the same. We all want the same things out of life — to be seen, to be heard, to be loved."
Gray listens.
"When someone creates a dish, or a drink, or an oyster, they're sharing a little piece of themself with you. That's a beautiful story I want to tell."
See more of Gray's work on Instagram (@cameraandflask) or at cameraandflask.com.
Originally published in Beach Happy Magazine, Volume 10 (Fall 2022). Story by Carrie Honaker. All photographs by Steven Gray Photography, made at The Bar at Willett and Willett Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky; The Catbird Seat in Nashville; and Dog House Deli, The Well, Restaurant Iron, Emerald Republic Brewing Co., and Pensacola Bay Oyster Company in Pensacola, Florida, with Cypress Point Oyster Co. and 13 Mile Brand in Apalachicola.
