Everyone has something they’re passionate about in life, whether it be for sports or a job, but for Alex DiStefano, that passion is for photography. It has influenced his life in countless ways, including relationships, experiences, and life lessons.
It all started while DiStefano was on a family vacation during his freshman year of high school. His mom had brought a camera along with her, a Nikon d3500. The camera intrigued him, and he picked it up and couldn’t put it down for the rest of the trip, and ultimately for the rest of his life. The idea of capturing any moment in time, with a creative touch, was fascinating.
“My mom hadn’t taken a single photo,” he recollected, “and I just absolutely fell in love with it.”
After the vacation ended, DiStefano would shoot anything that got him outside, taking as many photos as possible. He started to experiment with different styles of photography that he learned about online. He played with powder and smoke bombs to learn how to give his shots dynamic and color. He also experimented with steel wolf photography to capture sparks and light. Trying new things he had never done before, and being as creative as possible, was his only goal.
From there on, DiStefano found inspiration to continue this newfound hobby through photographers on YouTube, one of which was Peter McKinnon. McKinnon actively creates simple how-to videos. These include videos such as “How to tell a STORY with photography” and “How to take BETTER photos in DIRECT SUNLIGHT!”
When DiStefano first became much more serious about making this his career, he found comfort in the style of sports photography during his freshman year of college. It was action-packed, as there was always a crazy play or creative celebration happening.
“I was looking for something creative to do. I already knew some of the basketball players on the CCSU (Central Connecticut State University) team, and they encouraged me to come out and take photos at their games,” he stated.
However, he eventually grew to appreciate other areas of photography and the challenges they pose. Now, DiStefano focuses more on portraits, weddings, and event-style photos. They put a lot of stress on his plate, but they tend to be very entertaining. Wedding photography especially took hold of him when he was given the opportunity to shoot his cousin’s wedding. This was his first wedding shoot, and his cousin trusted him enough to capture her special moment. “It was like that first big step into wedding photography and what a day looks like as a wedding photographer,” he recalled.
“I think that sometimes those high-pressure environments and the photo shoots that you can’t mess up because they won’t happen again or don’t take place again, definitely make me think more and get me more excited about taking photos,’ DiStefano said.
DiStefano will be shooting five weddings this summer. After shooting his first wedding, he made sure to bring business cards and network with guests, many of whom were either engaged or close to getting married themselves. That helped generate a few more opportunities. One of the weddings he will shoot is for Allan Jeanne-Rose, who played basketball at CCSU, the college that DiStefano attended as well.
Throughout his time as a photographer, he has had a whole world of interesting experiences and opportunities opened up to him. One of which was a unique session with former professional basketball player Allan Houston. Houston played for the Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and was in the Olympics multiple times for Team USA.
A friend of DiStefano’s—who’s both a professional basketball player and a model for Fashion Nova—was running a youth basketball camp. Allan Houston, who’s a family friend of DiStefano’s friend, wanted to do an interview with him, and DiStefano was invited to tag along. It wasn’t a formal gig at first, but it turned into a really cool opportunity.
They started the day at Houston’s home, where they sat down for a video interview. DiStefano helped out with the audio and camera work. After the interview, they went to Houston’s home gym for a quick shoot-around. DiStefano took photos while he practiced, and even got to rebound for him. They also created some content for his brand.
“It was crazy to meet one of my idols and be able to take photos of them. It was definitely one of the most stressful photo shoots in my life, but a huge learning opportunity and really fun,” he said.
Outside of this, he also noted that he traveled to Hawaii for an unexpected photoshoot. Another cool experience was when DiStefano’s friend flew him down to High Point University to shoot the friend’s girlfriend’s graduation. He remembers how gorgeous the campus was.
In the next few years, DiStefano’s dream is to shoot an NBA game. Currently, the highest level of sports he has shot for was a D1 football game for UConn.
As for now, he will be continuing his photography career through a new business, A Through Z Studios, with his roommate. This name was inspired by the Amazon logo, which symbolizes doing everything from A to Z. It also fit considering DiStefano’s first name is Alex and his roommate’s last name is Zamboni.
Throughout DiStefano’s photography career, he has learned how important it is to treat everybody the same. “If you can have a good working relationship with everybody, opportunities, jobs, and friendships can come out of nowhere,” he stated. To DiStefano, everyone can be helpful in your career at some point. Being the best possible version of yourself and putting your best effort into helping others is the most important thing you can do.
