About Me

Hi, I'm Dese'Rae L. Stage, and I'm a photographer based in New York City. I shoot everything from live music to headshots to weddings, and some other stuff in between. It's not that I lack focus, I just have a lot of interests. In November 2011, I was chosen as one of three protégés (the only woman and the only American) for iStockphoto's Feast mentorship program. I'm passionate about music, suicide awareness education, and body art. I'm prone to TMI moments and bouts of complaint, but my sense of humor makes up for it. I promise.

In a past life, I was a published poet. In a separate (and occasionally overlapping) past life, I studied psychology; more specifically, I studied the psychological causes and effects of self-injury. Turns out, self-injury is too taboo a topic for even a Ph.D. candidate to tackle. When the university tried to push me into studying archival data on risky behaviors in adolescents, I decided to run away to New York to do things my way. In doing so, I decided to stop trying to follow the practical path and started to follow my dreams. You can be an artist and effect change at the same time. Who'da thunk?

I'm currently working on Live Through This, a photo project aimed at reducing stigma associated with attempted suicide, as well as promoting awareness, prevention, and prevention education, by confronting the viewer with images of real people who have struggled with these issues... and won. The intention is to illustrate that, not only are suicide attempt survivors human, but we are everywhere and sometimes even those who play a role in our day-to-day lives may not know our dark histories; that we are essentially like everyone else; that we have battle wounds and, ultimately, we've learned that we have something to live for. By not acknowledging or speaking of our truths, by ignoring the elephant in the room, the silence is not only deafening, but it can also be deadly.

This blog serves as a home for anything and everything I see fit to share, from my various photo-related ventures to home life to...well, you get the point.

Group Exhibitions

"CMJ30," P.J.S. Exhibitions, New York, NY (2010)
"Salon," The Art Resource Gallery, Johnson City, TN (2004)
"Deep Down," The Gallery @ 316, Johnson City, TN (2004)

Selected Clients / Contributions / Publications

The New Yorker · CMJ (Official Photographer '08-'10) · Creative Artists Agency · Tell All Your Friends PR · New York Magazine · Rasputina · Blender · Prefix · Brooklyn Vegan · Stereogum · Gothamist · JDUB Records · W Magazine · The Village Voice · PopWreckoning · Rockscope · Toronto Life Magazine · Skyscraper Magazine · Reverb Magazine

The Improvised Life | Instagram

As you may or may not know, I’m a huge fan of Instagram. I think it allows the frantic freelancer (ie., me) the ability to create art without pressure. It’s a sort of practice. It keeps my eyes open and my vision fresh and helps me feel like I’m still seeing–and sharing–the world beautifully, somehow, even if I’m not lugging around my gear.

I was talking to Sally over at The Improvised Life recently about how there’s also this interesting narrative happening behind the scenes on my own IG feed. It ends up serving as a kind of personal journal for me. I can look at one of my images and know exactly where I was standing, who I was talking to, what sort of tumult was underway in my personal life. She liked that idea and asked me to write a post on the topic, so I did. Check it out here.