commercial photographer New Zealand, portrait photographer New Zealand, lifestyle photographer New Zealand, fashion photographer Auckland
Music is dangerous.
It wants you to be an individual. To stay up late and rebel. Music wants to change the world and demands you help it. It's the opposite of good parenting. Music is nostalgic and inclusive. It compels you to be open-minded. Inspiring you to do bold, reckless things with complete strangers in the early hours.
For Stephen Tilley, a commercial and lifestyle photographer based in Auckland, New Zealand, music was also a life-raft. Something to cling onto and be carried to a place more inspiring. That place was London and Paris in the late 90s, where Stephen embraced fashion photography and portraiture, capturing the moving cultural landscape — a time when Face magazine, Alexander McQueen and Kate Moss ruled the world. Stephen honed his craft and captured some of those rebels. Those reckless and perceptive beings who crackled with musical energy.
Over 25 years, that same instinct has taken him around the world — shooting commercial campaigns, lifestyle photography and personal branding portraits for clients including Samsung, Pepsi, Louis Vuitton and Vodafone across New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.
Stephen Tilley's photography is music.
Rebellious, accepting and has something to say. It sets him apart and has seen him travel the world for leading publications and game-changing brands. This website is a Stephen Tilley playlist. A visual mixtape of some of his greatest hits — he invites you to enjoy it, share it and turn up the volume.