first and foremost I just had to say
this is such a surreal experience being
able to talk about
especially the fact that I didn't get to
go to art school or you know the high
school I went to at the time was Thomas
Edison vocational school in a computer
repair class in the first date computer
repair the teacher told me that was
cheaper to buy a new computer so it was
it was been a struggle but you know I
think there's been four principals in my
life that have been paramount for me to
really experience and take my time to
understand and the only way that I know
the spirit know these experiences is
because I've been really cool with my
family and really close with my friends
and my friends became my family so the
first principle is to chasing
immortality and what I mean by chasing
immortality is before my love of video
games perform a love of anime basketball
hip hop sneakers and pretty much every
single nerdy thing I've always loved my
family and I love hanging out with my
family and chilling with them a lot of
my families here in the building on is
recording me this is really embarrassing
but uh especially coming from Brooklyn
and move into Queens we lived in
Rosedale and that's where all my cousins
used to come and hang out out of our
house and then we just no played
Nintendo 64 all day we'd be wrestling
you know and just really enjoying each
other's company and the way that we
really celebrated these moments is about
taking family photos and before there
was an Instagram before before before
there was a tumblr we had to go to like
wool worse or Rite Aid's like pharmacies
to pick up code on envelopes and go
through disposable photos for hours and
it will be photos like this me and mom
dukes has always been really tight mom
deuces in the building
Brownsville never and never will and
then me and my mom has always been
pretty much doing the same thing I've
probably watched way more lifetime
movies than I can count but you know
that's why me and my mom are really cool
and to this day being my mom you know
still get down to dance I don't know who
took this photo but it's very artsy and
me and my mom still are the same exact
way you can actually yourself when you
see you later and then moments like I
know the under you don't love this one
Lauren moments like this is it's
honestly they're priceless there Lauren
is obviously having a great time that's
my sister I don't know my dad's is
having a good old time but I don't know
who I'm looking at and
first place in that photo but my mom
took this photo so you could tell is
really well composed because you know
she's really well composed and it was
just really important that we was always
together with these moments especially
being a black family from Brooklyn from
Brooklyn New York and Disney World like
in the 90s this isn't it was nothing too
crazy but it still it was just still
really impressive to be like that with
our family and you know sometimes you
sometimes you have friends I have best
friends like Dijon and dim ray that I've
been cool with since we've been 12 years
old I'm 33 right now black don't crack
you know but me and Dijon being you know
pretty much thick as thieves ever since
we've been younger and this is the only
day of our prom that I took this photo
and we were definitely underage and we
didn't drink that bottle of LSA but you
know Dijon was definitely holding it you
know he was holding it down for us but I
think the was really important that was
happening through all these family
photos that I really started to cherish
and really embrace was that I really got
connected to the stories and to the
memories of the timelessness of these
moments because life is really fragile
and there's a lot of you know there's a
lot of ups and downs that happen in my
life and with our family that these
moments like these became ever more
important to myself and and to my family
so one of the things I started to notice
all the time is that if anybody knows my
dad he was working all the time he's
always doing something and clearly you
know we were just in the backyard
digging a hole for my basketball court
and I don't know how I have one shoe on
to this day mom why do I have one shoe
on but this is just the essence like I
always meant to be with my pops in but
my dad was a you know a really hard
worker and I just idolized him and
without knowing that that became the
subtext in my life of trying to figure
out how do I be like my dad and you know
love everything that he that he was
about and what he was doing but that
leads to my next point which is precise
persistence and with precise persistence
what I mean by that is I've had to
figure out what would drive me for the
rest of my life my dad was an
electrician a master's electrician for
35 years he would definitely to know
that every single day and then he also
was a running his own business which was
Irby electric and from a young age I've
always was just obsessed with the fact
that you know this is my dad he was an
electrician he was in control of his own
destiny
how can I figure out to be like him and
at the same time he made sure that
everybody know that I was gonna be
electrician too
so I was on electrical sites from a
young age like you connect my mom
pulling wire every single day playing
with sheetrock and the more I started to
do to do this I started to notice that I
really don't like be an electrician like
that but my dad loved it but you could
see it in his eyes and like he just was
obsessed with you know everything that
came along with it so I started off to
really try to figure out like if my
father loved being electrician so much
like I need to you know figure out what
I love to do as well - so the first step
in my career of you know making money
and do my thing was to work at
McDonald's and not only did I work at
McDonald's I started to work at Sears I
worked at Express I worked at a
newspaper route and at the same time I
still was record with my dad all
throughout my teenage years but then
something happened in my life which
really made me had to reevaluate
everything and it made me take a step
back I used to break at these the small
in Queens called Green Acres mall and I
green Akismet Dijon remembers Green
Acres you know he's out there have a
nice ears you know catch us in the
aerobic session but when we was braking
at the mall
I was really cheap back then and I
decided like you know I could just walk
home because it wouldn't be too bad
and I still remember the day that
someone actually do I'm gonna get in the
car with them to take a cheap ride home
I say now I got two legs I'm good so I
started to walk home and I started to
notice that these two guys were
following me and I didn't think too much
of it at the same time because I was 18
years old I was really confident a cocky
I just graduated high school I had a
youtube edition iPod which is black and
red I was like you can't tell me nothing
you know I was doing my thing
I started the closer I started to get to
home I started to notice that the guys
were following me and I you know I don't
want to assume that these dudes were
going to do anything I just kept on
minding my business all of a sudden I
got hit in the back of the head with a
sock full of rocks and then another two
dudes came out of nowhere heavy with a
sock full of sock full of rocks on the
side of my face they continued to jump
me they completely shattered my
cheekbones
I had to eventually break away and get
away from them and had to call my
parents and stuff like that I was like
Kanye West and through the wire but I
end up having the gate facial with
facial reconstruction surgery I had to
get three metal plates in my face and my
lip is still partially numb to this day
and I was wrong 18 years old like I was
saying and that was really tough for me
too at the time because I almost died
the doctor said I forgot hit a little
bit closer to my tempo I would have been
dead
so it took my family and my friends to
really bring me back to the place where
I felt like you know comfortable to be
in a space to even you know she's be to
live and you know be comfortable so I
started to get back into the work field
and I finally got back into the work
field in the first job I got was a
custodian and then after the custodian
job was like then this really sucks too
so I need to I need to really find I
need to figure this out I need to be
persistent I need to be like my dad and
you know find something that I love to
do and then I decided to get a job at
Gamestop because obviously I love
videogames like this cannot be that bad
but it ended up being kind of terrible
but the one good thing about Game Stop
after the three and a half years that I
spent my life there on 34th Street was I
found out about I found out about this
little old app called Instagram this
this is the first time that I had access
to photography and at the same time I
could create like my father on my own
terms and build my own invisible house
if you will I met I don't have any kind
of experience but I just know that I
could play a lot of video games that I
probably take photos as well too so I
decided to buy a film camera and start
taking photos with my iPhone and figure
out how that was going to start going
for myself so I started to really take
photos of my family like that's a photo
of my grandma on the top right sorry
that's how in Roseau actually and taking
photos like that i start to create new
family memories and new moments that I
began to cherish and I started to take
photos around my neighborhood and really
you know that the bottom left photo was
actually right down the block from my
house and I started um I started to do
all these different different little
things with photography that gave me the
same feeling of family photos and
understanding those kind of moments then
the more that was on Instagram I started
to notice that people were reaching out
to me to you know try to hang out to
take photos and I thought that was
really weird and I was like man my
trying to wake up with nobody I know my
peoples and I'm straight but at the same
time you know I try to you know just
step out my shell a little bit and be a
little bit you know uncomfortable with
situations and I started to link up with
people like rich Peters and you know
Jose Silva Dave Krugman Rahim Simon
those became
most like my extended family and the
photo on the top left is when we were in
the city and we were on like some kind
of Prince of Persia kind of thing and I
was climbing over the roofs and we was
all roof topping and it was all super
illegal don't do that but those kind of
moments are it's like a new family album
for us you know it's a new family photos
so I was still working at the game a
game stuff at the time and working out
RBI but I was always late to work and I
was becoming more more late to work all
the time because I kept one exploring
I've started taking more photos with my
friends and linking up with people like
Joe Cavallini it was a really close
friend of mine and Carl I mean his name
is Pierre sorry exposed you Carl um but
all of these different kind of moments
is just started culminated so to give me
the same feeling that my dad used to how
he's loved you know his job as a
electrician I started to love
photography you take it more seriously I
definitely wasn't gonna paid anything I
was spending all my money on film and I
you know it was a really rough process
but I was never been so happy in my life
I eventually got fired from REI because
I was late all the time and I told the
guy thank you because I kind of do that
by myself and I took her crazy road trip
with my mom my sister and my my dad we
drove from Denver to Las Vegas and then
that's where I really truly embraced
photography for the first time and my
persistence finally paid off I was able
to see my family in good health we've
been able to go to Death Valley together
there's my sister thing and she's
freezing at the Grand Canyon because
none of us had jackets on I definitely a
basketball shorts this is my dad a
couple a couple years ago when he was at
the peak of this strain I don't know why
he was doing that post for but he's
really strong but just moments like that
just became way more special to me and I
just really started to cherish those
more and more and I was taking photos in
my neighborhood way more often and
linking up with more the Instagram
community and the when I got fired from
REI like I said this is the first time I
fully was able to be free I was speaking
about Raheem Simon and that's him
actually in this abandoned warehouse
that we found in Yonkers and like one of
the first days I met him I have to hop
over a 10-foot fence and we fell in the
pile of snow that came up to my knees
and then now we've been friends ever
since even though he's from the Bronx
but all those kind of moments has just
been really important for my friends and
my life and it just started made me feel
really comfortable with myself and I
finally found something I love which was
photography which leads to the third
point which is individuals are greater
than algorithms I think is really
important especially in the digital real
estate to really establish yourself and
be an individual in this and in this in
that kind of space it's easy to get
caught up in fats especially with you
know trying to pursue likes and
everything like that and I not to say
that I don't fall victim to that game
sometimes but I truly hate it because I
think it's all about the personality one
of the things I started to notice a lot
on Instagram especially like around 2013
2012 because I'm kind of old
there were people writing a lot of
inspirational quotes all the time there
are this like the Sun will rise tomorrow
and like the grass is greener on the
other side I was like I do not I know
not to say there's anything wrong with
that but it was just really sappy and
it's not real and you know I'm born and
raised from New York so I needed to
speak from my heart so I kind of took a
Shakespearian approach to looking at my
life and my friendships and talking
about the things that really you know
meant something to me like don't front
like he wasn't doing the thunderclap if
anybody knows what that is is it
Jamaican dance move that it I won't do
right now but definitely was doing that
when I was 18 years old
um but being able to connect with people
in a way more personal level and not
taking my photography so seriously it
became way more paramount to me rather
than trying to be inspirational I want
to be inspirational with my own working
but my own kind of effort so at the same
time I created a format called sixteen
by nine vibes and the whole thing with
the 69 format was I love to take
cinematic kind of photos and at the same
time have the virus feed my captions to
relate with my friends in my in my
community so they never feel like my
photography is too serious because I'm
always trying to relate to people like
something Chinese food isn't Chinese
food for breakfast is not a good look
that's speaking from experience I am I
should probably stop doing that myself
honestly but I wanted to make sure that
you can we can connect on that kind of
level because it's something that's
relatable you don't have you be black
white asian Spanish or anything but you
can understand that kind of feeling and
kind of silliness and that takes
something to seriously
um while I was doing this the whole time
of you know creating all this
photography and you know really getting
out there I had two things to do I had
to establish my name on the Internet
so what's my name on the Internet is
Steve sweatpants no I'm not wearing
sweatpants right now so I'm a poser but
the whole point of the name the creation
of the Steve sweatpants is I wanted to
have something that I connected with my
family and connected with the
experiences that I loved and I was
always thinking about my mom in these
kind of situations and my mom was always
trying to tell me in which what she
should my Steven washing dishes
so my excuse was let me go put these
sweatpants on really quick and and I'll
figure it out later
or when I had to go take out the garbage
you know and rose there we used to have
a lot of possums which was scary when
you're taking out the garbage I was
telling my mom like let me put these
sweatpants on really crepe because you
know I'm afraid of possums it's what I
eventually wanted to create my internet
name I wanted to make sure that I still
can have a feeling back connect to my
mom and also I wanted to be comfortable
on what people around me to be
comfortable so I created the name Steve
sweat heads so all the names so the
captions go along with the name and I
want people to be comfortable in general
and I just don't want people to take
themselves too seriously I started to
get to the attention of a couple of
Canadians in Vancouver and I've never
been to Vancouver in my life to that at
that point but the rule of thumb if
anything is you had to be cool with your
barber because your barber knows
everybody and my barber is AJ he's
supposed to be here I don't know where
he is but you know AJ's always always
somewhere but I love him like a brother
and he's always looked out for me and I
used to sweep hair at his barber shop
when I was always getting fired from my
job and when he told me about they know
this guy named Eric wanted to meet me
from Vancouver I was like cool sure
let's do it and little do I know that
the next day that I went to hang out
with AJ at is one of his parties there
was a Spanish dude wearing some Japanese
she was like oh those are pretty tight
but I got to see AJ AJ is like oh this
is Eric the next day which is actually
this day that I'm taking photos I've
walked Eric and his now-wife Celine
around Waynesburg and we walked over the
Williamsburg Bridge and we spoke about
the concept called street Dreams
magazine at first it was supposed to be
just Eric and myself
photo on a digital zine but I've been
linking up with all these people my new
form family and we've really doing I
think together as as a unit like I've
learned photography from Silva he told
me how to edit it and Davis told me to
go outside all the time because Davis
always outside Rahim taught me to be
more more real and you know appreciate
being black so I wanted to make sure
that the Accord incorporated these
people it's in the magazine and that's
when we made the first issue of street
rings back in 2013 so this leads to my
last point don't live to pay your
written so one of the things that my dad
always used to tell me all the time
while I was crying complaining about you
know paying bills I was like why does
kind of Edison keep on charging me he
was like well you need to find a job
that you actually like don't live to pay
your rent and I never understood that
when I was younger but older I got
especially through all the job
experiences and being mugged working as
a custodian I don't know why I mean
nothing wrong with that but you know I
was just doing everything I could you
know just trying to make ends meet and
when I started doing photography that's
the first time I started to live I
definitely had to sleep in my own couch
I by hearing this for the first time I'm
sorry I just sleep on my own couch for
about 18 months to really pursue my
dream I had to sublet my room in my own
apartment to make sure I was able to
accommodate and feed myself off of the
vision that I really wanted to pursue
with not only my own photography career
but with Eric Mike and my rest of our
street Dreams family so when I started
to do with that I really started to open
up my eyes and being able to see the
world for the first time and all the
truest forms as sappy as that sounds you
know I was able to go to Japan for the
first time and you know like I mentioned
I love anime so cowboy bebop is one of
my favorite shows of all time like my
hero academia is the truth so the fact
that I couldn't go to Japan and really
an experience Kyoto with this is the
time I was me and just and because
walking around it this guy is playing a
you know flute with a little dog samurai
dog was like this is insane moments that
you know being able to go to the next
practice facility being able to
experience that with a team and even
though they trade the players all the
time you know this is still history you
know they this dude played on this team
at that time and I was there
they photos like even like me at the
taking photos on the subway which looks
like regular mundane photos which now
I'm actually featuring this photo in an
exhibition with one of my favorite
photographers Buford Smith who's an
incredible legendary photographer who
have no bees no business being with but
and through photography and being able
to tell these stories to create new
family moments being able to go to Cuba
being able to go to Thailand with Jess
and her mom and thank God just mom was
there because she's tired she speaks
Thai I've been really rough for us and
even taking a photo like this with the
brother with a do-rag and a baby if that
photo means a lot to me especially this
year last year my dad suffered four
strokes and he was on the top of his
game and he still is he's still as
stubborn as ever but you know it's
definitely changed the dynamic of my
family a lot so being able to shoot a
photo like this torn our Nike event I
ran up to this guy's I mean I need to
get a photo of you and they made me feel
and it makes me feel at the same kind of
feeling that you know when I used to
hang out with my dad and him you know
holding my foot while I'm shoveling in
the middle of that backyard is the same
kind of feeling that I felt and it was
really important for me to do that and
being able to work with kevin durand and
ask him to come to the nicks and telling
me no in my face you know all this stuff
is all that stuff is timeless kind of
moments I used to write Slick Rick
rhymes on hot 97 notes off my tape
cassette and reminded me back and forth
and if you ever watched a French Montana
and Slick Rick video I mean a Drake
video I'm actually in the video taking
photos and then I'm get to use this
photo and the gallery two nights ago so
all my world bees became full circle and
fully encompassing all these moments in
my life has been complete blessing one
of the coolest things that I got to do
recently is me just and what about other
friends actually we got to see a sumo
match in Japan and I grew up playing
Street Fighter like a Honda was the best
player or a street fighter so being able
to actually witness a sumo match and
feel the energy and understand that and
able to share a story like that
especially being from Jamaica Queens
it's really important for me because
this is the new Asian storytelling and I
look at these like a modern age
folktales
so this is this officially the six year
street Dreams we've been able to work
with incredible photographers like
Joseph Rodriguez
which look as like my big uncle right
now especially with my father having a
stroke and everything
the Joseph Rodriguez has become one of
my mentors and somebody I really look up
to and being able to be featured in The
New York Times even though I barely
graduated high school and now I was a
college dropout indefinite stay in
school this was being in the New York
Thompson's like my college diploma
buddy's college degree I don't know what
it's called
but I got one okay so but I guess but it
all culminated to is that I feel like
there's four things that's really
important in your life that you need to
do it which is chasing mortality be
precisely persistent remember that
individuals are greater than algorithms
and don't live to pay your rent
[Applause]