Portfolio Review: Photographer Steven Taylor Shares His Favorite Music Portraits

Each portfolio review we do exposes us to artists across mediums with impressive visions for their work. In the case of photographer Steven Taylor, it's attention to subtle details and an awareness of his subjects' relation to their environment. Through it all, the work is compositionally simple yet contains a wealth of meaning.

Steven has been on our radar for a while; he was one of our 20 Creatives to Follow on Instagram and gave the advice "Keep good company" in our How to Make It: 10 Rules for Success From Freelance Photographers feature. He shoots a lot of musicians, capturing their essence during moments of joy, vulnerability, or introspection. Maybe his skill partly comes from the fact that he was once a musician himself and knows the intricacies of the career from both personal and professional standpoints. Regardless, he keeps all of his portraits—no matter who he's shooting—honest and raw.

Whether photographing a Jay-Z concert, the cast of Glee, or John Mayer tattooing himself, there's something unique to be seen and learned from his images. Check out this Portfolio Review: Photographer Steven Taylor Shares His Favorite Music Portraits to see what we mean.

"I moved to Los Angeles about 4 years ago to pursue photography. One of the first shoots I did in town was with Incubus. If it weren't for artists like Brandon Boyd wanting to grow and expand as artists, I would have never had the chance to do this as a career. He was adamant about using a new photographer, and being chosen as that photographer opened a huge amount of doors for me as an artist."

"I'm a big fan of Common. I've had the pleasure of working with him quite a bit and we've become close in the process. This shot is from his album packaging shoot in NY for The Dreamer The Believer. The idea of the shoot was to really show him as himself. I think this image does a great job of that."

"I went to London to see my friend play at Wimbledon, but the day I got in town both she and her sister lost. Normally when a player loses a tournament the whole team leaves town the next morning, so I had 10 days in London to kill on my own. Turned out a few of my friends were on the Glee Live tour, so I met up and finished off the tour with them. It was an awesome time and a crazy trip. I took this photo of Dianna Agron backstage in Dublin, Ireland."

"The GOOD music crew was working on the Cruel Summer record in LA. I went by the studio with Common and ended up hanging most of that week. This shot of Big Sean was one of my favorites during that time. We were all hanging during a break on the balcony, and he was very naturally just leaning over the ledge looking out at Los Angeles."

"I had the extreme pleasure of spending a few days with the U2 and Jay-Z tour in Australia. This shot is of the crowd during Jay's performance. I have this shot on my site labeled with his name. I like the idea that the people supporting his music make him what he is today. Without that crowd and their support, the name 'Jay-Z' would mean a whole lot less."

"This photo represents one of my favorite stories. I flew from LA to ATL to shoot Snoop. What I didn't realize was that the person who hired me hadn't actually cleared this with Snoop's people, so when I arrived on location they had no idea what I was doing there. After waiting around forever, Snoop came out to see what was happening, and we ended up shooting for a bit. The photos were never used for anything other than my portfolio, but I feel like this photo represents him well, and the series includes some of my favorite images I've ever taken."

"Bruno Mars was playing a show across the street from my house, so I went over to cover it. This photo was actually taken in the elevator at the venue, and it makes him look super iconic. He was warming up for the show and singing a chorus to a new song he was working on. I took a series of images like this, and I think they represent him in a really cool, natural way."

"While on tour with Glee, I ended up being hired by Fox to shoot the international press for their 3D movie. This was backstage at one of the shows."

"Don't have a huge story about this shot of Nas-I just really love it."

"This image is of Ricky Jackson. He's in a band called The Daylights, which happens to be one of my favorite bands. I love how mysterious this image feels. No one on the shoot wanted him to sit on that chair because we were on the 14th floor, and there wasn't anything on the other side of the ledge he was on. It feels super dark because it really is; him being so relaxed in that old chair, with his weight fully leaning into it, is extremely unsettling."

"The first noteworthy artist I photographed was John Mayer. We were backstage in Dallas, TX when he tattooed himself for the first time."

"Future was the first artist I photographed for Complex."