Clay Williams

Walls in Brooklyn.
Sunset Park & Park Slope. February 2026.

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What up doe…

Streets of Detroit. January 2026.

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Party shots from the 8it Awards last week. Kind of loving the vibe. Flash x film is working for me.

Shot on #KodakGold, pushed two stops.

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Indirect light was much more accurate than direct hard light. Will likely stick to bouncing light off ceilings and reflectors to keep things simple.

Prohibitive for every shot on a film roll, but yes, something I might have to work into my process if I use this type of lighting again.

Need to step up my color correction game if I shoot more food on film with lighting.

Dishes shot with lighting on Ektar pushed two stops and digital on a 5DIV.

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Experimented with shooting food on film with lighting recently and got wild results with color balance and contrast. Not all bad, not all good, but lessons learned, for sure.

Visited the NYC Transit Museum for the first time in a million years today. Took the Hasselblad…

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My local when I’m in Philly.

The daily grind. Butchery was one of my first regular subjects when I was starting to shoot food. Had a chance to return to it earlier this month.

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Stopped to take my camera out to photograph this truck. While I was framing it, this dude stopped, took his hood down and posed for me.

After I waved that I got it, he nodded and walked away.

Much better shot than the one I’d planned. Love those moments.

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Inspired by the Seydou Keita show at @brooklynmuseum.org, I picked up some African textiles to use as backdrops for my portraits.

Looking forward to trying them out in my sessions. Especially that deep indigo.

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Thanks! These were mini-sessions, 15 minutes each, so I’m happy I was able to get folks to get them comfortable in that time.

Thanks!

Portraits from Detroit earlier this week.

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It’s to self: Be sure your 120 film roll is tightly secured after the shoot…

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Stroll down Seventh Ave.
Sunset Park, Brooklyn. January 2026.

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Angola Road Trip.
June 2024.

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Chefs, in no particular order.
Various locations. 2025.

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A town called Natal.
Gramado, Brazil. November 2025.

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Dusk in SoHo.
New York. December 2025.

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Portraits at the Black Consciousness Festival last month. We stumbled on it while traveling and decided to stick around.

Manaus, #Brazil. November 2025.

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Just got my film back from a month in #Brazil and I’m seriously questioning why I came home.

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Portraits of Pastry Chef Camari Mick in my studio last month.

Shot on my Hasselblad on #kodakgold and #HP5Plus.

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I always ask for hand checks, but will be in a country where I don’t speak the language and taking a bunch of regional flights, both situations where security is often uncooperative.

Read elsewhere that lead lined bags just make them turn up the x-ray higher, so haven‘t gotten them.

How many times is too many to run film through traditional x-rays?

Planning out a trip where I’m going to have six flights and probably won’t be able to get around putting my film through the X-ray for any of them.

Mostly 100 & 200 speed.

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Up the Hudson River.
Kingston, NY. October 2025.

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Gordon Parks’ Photography Continues to Inspire Activism and Human Connection Temples of Hope, Rituals of Survival is the first exhibit substantially devoted to Gordon Parks’ images of Black American spiritual life.

Howard University’s Temples of Hope, Rituals of Survival: Gordon Parks and Black Religious Life is the first exhibit devoted to Gordon Parks’ images of Black American religious and spiritual life.

Contributor Coley Gray talks with curator Dr. Melanee C. Harvey:

So funny, just finished a bistro burger.

I used my flash with the first three shots. Usually just do existing light, but it worked out pretty well.