Meet Stephen Martin | Photographer – Production Company

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephen Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephen, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
Success is relative.

While I consider personal brand as a photographer and my production company, Explore With Media, successful, the journey has been filled with challenges and growth. The path to where we are today hasn’t been linear, but each experience has been invaluable.

One of the key factors behind my success has been my approach to each project. I view every client and job as an opportunity to learn, challenge my abilities, and grow overall. This mindset has allowed me to continuously evolve and deliver high-quality work that resonates with our clients.

As a production company, with the immense pleasure of working with others talented creations for many projects, our commitment to creative storytelling and brand identity has been central to our work. We focus on creating content that not only meets the needs of our clients but also tells a compelling story that connects with their audience.

Additionally, our values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are integral to our brand despite todays society and position on this. We stand by its importance towards social impact in visual representation for advertising and media across the industry. We strive to foster belonging and access in all our work, ensuring that our content reflects the richness of the communities we serve.

Ultimately, our success is built on a foundation of continuous learning, authentic storytelling, and and understanding that we are all still figuring it out along the way. These principles guide us in delivering work that not only meets but exceeds our clients’ expectations.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My path to photography and creative storytelling comes from a less than normal path—it was shaped by discipline, detours, and a return to something I had buried for years. Before I ever picked up a camera, I was a kid drawn to music and creativity. But life moved quickly. In 2005, I joined the Army, and by 2006, I was in Iraq for a 15-month deployment. That experience forced me to grow up fast, at the time a bit faster than I was ready for. It was intense, formative, and deeply divergent from my upbringing and any opportunity from the creative world I had once imagined myself in.

For years, service and structure took the lead. Creativity was still in me, but it was quiet—waiting. When I finally discovered photography, it felt like an explosion of everything I had suppressed. That moment changed everything. Photography became more than a skill; it was a way to process life, a direct way to connect with people, and rediscover parts of myself that had been on hold. I have be scrutinized in the past for my need to photo and capture everything, but I just don’t believe people understand just how impactful the practice and process of creating has become for me and what it does for my mind, body, and soul.

Professionally, things started from the ground up. I began as a freelance photographer, and the early years were hard. There were many moments of feeling less that par in comparison to others, financial uncertainty, and just the shear difficulty of figuring out how to run a business while still defining who I was as an artist. But every challenge shaped me—forced me to adapt, refine my personal brand & voice, and stay committed to growth.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Call it a jaded opinion – but Denver isn’t really “in the mountains” as much as people claim in to be as it pertains to daily activity and access. While Colorado Springs isn’t of course a iconic mountain town in its own right, it in comparison offers the charm of a smaller city, a slower pace of life, and its location nestled in shadow of Pikes Peak gives myself as a photographer, hiker, and trail runner – endless opportunities to create, recreate, and find inspiration from the place I live.

At the cities smaller size, it is still dense with popular restaurants; such as Dos Santos & White Pie, but on any give day you’ll find me relaxing or working at a local coffee shop; Loyal Coffee, Switchback Coffee Roasters, or just about anywhere that has a good bagel and light roast pour over.

A Colorado adventure isn’t complete though without a drive into the mountains anywhere along the continental divide – or combing the road trip and dipping into southern Utah for desert vibes and immense western scenery compared to Colorado & Utah is unmatched anywhere else in the United States.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a great question, as a large chunk of my success has been carried on the backs of other creatives who have helped, supported, and worked along side me for years. Brian Lewis, of Solmtn Studios (solmtnstudios.com) garners an immense amount of respect and praise from me for our continued combined work relationship over the years. As a wildly accomplished videographer, I am so fortunate to be able to hire him for many of my client projects as well as developed my skills enough to be in turn hired to work on projects on his pipeline.

He’s such an asset to be able to call on and take advantage of not only his production and on set skills, but the high level of effort and support he puts into every project from start to finish, wither his own or mine. So I am so lucky to have grown in the industry with such a supportive role model, leader, and friend. I don’t for see myself with even a fraction of the success I’ve managed over the years or near as far along into my career as I’ve come with out it.

Website: https://www.explorewithmedia.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/explorewithmedia – www.instagram.com/finding.stephen