Steven Xiao

From Pandemic Pastime to Award-Winning Art: Steven Xiao’s Photographic Journey

I think the reason that some people don’t see photography as an art is because of how comparatively fewer degrees of separation it has from reality. Photography is sort of painting with reality. And your perspective is the paintbrush.

Today my guest is photographer Steven Xiao. Steven is based in San Francisco and picked up photography during the pandemic as a way of getting some fresh air. Steven was a finalist for fine art at the Creative Awards at the Siena International Photo Awards, in the professional category. His work has been published in Dodho Magazine, a professional photography magazine, and has been featured in the San Diego History Centre at Balboa Park and many outdoor galleries in the metropolitan Los Angeles area. In addition, his experimental short film “Whispers of the Conscience” was screened at AMC Empire theatres in Times Square, NYC for the All American High School Film Festival. All this while still a college student at seventeen years of age. I was delighted to have Steven on as a guest to get his perspective on the world of photography and also on the introduction of artificial intelligence in the arts, so I hope you are sitting comfortably and happy to stay with us.

Our conversation began with Steven explaining where his introduction to photography came from (02:23), the abstract fields of photography he is most interested in (06:47), and how he creates the final draft of each image (08:09). We then moved on to discussing his inspirations (11:17), how film is playing a more important part in his work (17:26), and how he defines the line between photography and art (20:36). As we talked, we moved on to the topic of using AI in photography and the ethics around it (29:27), Steven’s work with the non-profit organisation Fidutam which focuses on creating guidelines in the use of AI (36:40), and his involvement for the Unhoused project (41:50), before finishing with me asking Steven what he is watching and listening to at the moment (44:31).

Show Notes

• Steven’s Portfolio
• The Unhoused series
• I didn’t mean to haunt by Quadeca
• Fidutam organisation
• Alexey Titarenko

For more, hear my conversations with Benjamin Chesterton, Claire Murray, and Simon Roche.

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