Brooklyn-based Guyanese photographer advises youth

By Tracey Khan

STEFON Broomes left his homeland Guyana and is working daily to live the American dream after moving to New York six years ago.

Now he is the owner of his own photography and videography business ‘Steffon B’ Photography based in Brooklyn and is making a name for himself in the ‘Big Apple’. Fortunately for him, he is not new to media, since he worked for many years while in Guyana at the National Communications Network (NCN) in the technical field.

Despite his determination and drive, the transition from the streets of Georgetown to the bright light streets has not been an easy one and Steffon has had to overcome many obstacles as he works his way to the top.

“It’s been rough. Anyone who has moved to New York will tell you, especially at the beginning, but for me, I never dabbled much in media until my fifth year here, so I guess at first I was trying to do whatever to get by.”

He almost lost his life two years ago after walking into the emergency room of a Brooklyn hospital and collapsing. It was after recovering that he decided to follow his passion.
“I was having a cough for a few weeks and paid it no mind; and so I was at the hospital and while waiting, my heart just failed …I was there at the ICU for more than a week and I just gave me time to re-evaluate my life and what do I want to do for me and the only thing that kept pushing me was becoming a media expert.”

It was a passion that was being encouraged by his friends and family for many years, but he disregarded it. It took a life-threatening situation for him to come to this realisation.
He saw this as an investment in his self and is now working to be established more in this field, with the many opportunities that are present in the concrete jungle.

He is also part of Freedom Family Entertainment and is always looking at ways to invest and build himself and those around them.

His goal is to build a studio for creatives to work in New York.

“I want to branch off into full film more…I just want to have the whole works, like I have worked at NCN most of the formidable[sic] years of my life and I want that for myself, a place where creatives can come and work and do whatever they like — whether it be fellow photographers make-up artistes, I want to have a full studio that I will be able to provide a service for the people I know, for the people of New York and later on for the people of Guyana.”

His advice to young people who are working to make their dreams a reality in any part of the world is, “Take time to invest in yourself and realise what you want to do and what makes you happy and that can also sustain you and once you figure that out then the world is yours.”

Stefon can be contacted on Facebook or Instagram @stefonbphotography for photography and videography shoots for any occasion.