Gunner Stahl’s Camera Is Always Ready

When you think about the generation of underground hip-hop that came up in the 2010s — artists who went from Tumblr, SoundCloud, Instagram, and YouTube to defining an era and influencing the one that followed — chances are you’ve seen them through Gunner Stahl’s lens.

Tyler, The Creator counting money next to a McLaren. A$AP Mob and Playboi Carti together before Carti became one of rap’s biggest stars. Lil Uzi Vert hanging out with a tiny monkey. Mac Miller away from the stage. Then there’s 21 Savage, XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD, and countless others, captured not simply as stars, but often on the way to becoming them. Stahl’s photographs helped freeze a particularly volatile period of hip-hop in time, when the distance between “next up” and famous could seemingly collapse overnight.

The Atlanta-born photographer started out shooting friends and emerging artists around his hometown before his work carried him far beyond it. His intimate, often candid portraits eventually filled the 176 pages of his 2019 book, Gunner Stahl: Portraits, featuring everyone from Drake and Migos to Mac Miller, Nipsey Hussle, Tyler, The Creator, and The Weeknd. That same year, larger-than-life versions of his images hung throughout an Atlanta warehouse for his Portraits exhibition during Red Bull Music Festival Atlanta.

Stahl describes his approach as “raw, uncut, and candid.” It sounds simple, but it undersells the work required to consistently be in the right place, at the right time, with a camera in hand. Reflecting on how he learned the craft, Stahl admits he skipped most of the fundamentals that aspiring photographers are taught first. “I literally just purchased the camera and went outside,” he says.

Sixteen years later, going outside is still part of the formula. The difference is that Stahl now thinks about framing with the precision of a Wes Anderson film and actually knows what ISO, aperture, and shutter speed mean. His version of candid photography isn’t necessarily about catching someone unaware. It’s about responding to whatever is already there: a brick wall, a set of steps, golden-hour light, a gas station on the side of the road, or five spare minutes with a subject between commitments.

That instinct has turned Stahl into one of hip-hop’s most recognizable photographers and a blueprint for a generation that followed. His photographs have become album artwork, magazine images, campaigns, books, exhibitions, and, most recently, the image at the center of Supreme’s Fall/Winter 2025 Playboi Carti Photo Tee. At 34, he is still closely documenting Carti and the world around him while continuing to do what he has done since 2010: keep a camera nearby and recognize the picture before the moment disappears.

We caught up with Stahl during New York Fashion Week for the latest installment of our Through The Lens photography series. This time, we put Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro — available starting today, September 18 — in his hands to see how his signature approach translates to a phone. Its new 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera introduces variable aperture, while new Pro controls bring manual control over aperture, shutter speed, and white balance directly into the Camera app, giving photographers more say over the final image. We spoke with Stahl about his come-up, learning photography by doing it wrong, what “candid” actually means to him, and what happens when the camera in his hand becomes the one already in his pocket.

How would you describe your approach to photography today?

I would describe my work still the same way I came in: raw, uncut, and candid. I just try to be as natural as possible.

When someone looks at one of your photographs, what do you think makes it recognizably yours?

A mixture of the candidness and the look. My photos do have a certain look to them — mainly the film look, which has always been my go-to.

You call your work candid, but there’s also a lot of intention in your framing. What does “candid” actually mean to you?

My definition of candid is just working with the environment around me and placing the subject in good lighting. If it’s golden hour, or we’re driving somewhere and see a hill, or even stop at a gas station that we like along the way — it’s working with what’s there.

So the spontaneity isn’t necessarily about catching someone off guard. It’s about recognizing a photograph in the moment?

I like working with what I have at the moment. If I know I have five minutes with someone and they’re in between something, I’ll be like, “Alright, let’s use this brick wall right here,” or, “Let’s use these steps.”

When you see that opportunity, what are you looking for first — the person, the light, the background, the composition?

When I’m framing, I like to use wall spaces as a point of reference to position the subject. I try to start with full body, portrait style, and then get up close. I’m normally trying to have a centered frame.

What makes you know you’ve got a good photograph?

I like centered photos. I like when everything is aligned perfectly in the photo — kind of like a Wes Anderson style. I think framing makes a perfect photo to me.

You’ve been shooting for 16 years. What has changed most about the way you make a photograph?

I started out 16 years ago, and just recently I deleted everything from when I first started because it was really, really bad. From 2010 until now, I would say there’s definitely a little more thought put into it.

What was “bad” about those early photographs to you?

Everything was wrong. The exposure was wrong. I’m self-taught, so I didn’t really know too much about what I was doing. I was using flash in the wrong occasions, the wrong apertures. I didn’t really know anything about a camera. I was just trying stuff out.

Was there anything from that early work you look back at now and think you accidentally got right?

No, nothing. Literally nothing. It’s over with.

If you could tell the photographer you were in 2010 one thing, what would it be?

I would have at least looked up a YouTube video on what ISO, aperture, and shutter speed were. But I did not. I literally just purchased the camera and went outside.

But do you think there was something valuable about not knowing what you were doing yet — just buying a camera and going outside?

I did have fun. I had a great time.

Ten years ago, you were at Kanye West’s Madison Square Garden show for YEEZY Season 3 but barely photographed it. Looking back, what does that experience teach you about knowing when a moment is worth documenting?

My advice to myself back then is to shoot that show, because I did not shoot that show. I was working with someone there and doing a story on them, so I have absolutely no photos from that show. I got to experience it, but I don’t have a single photo from that show other than the story I was assigned to shoot. My advice would have been to actually run around and take photos that day.

Where do you look for inspiration when you’re not behind the camera?

What inspires me these days is an independently owned magazine or bookstore in any city that I’m going to. I just got off tour, and I probably went to at least 15.

Photography is more accessible than ever, and everyone can see everyone else’s work instantly. How do you make something that still feels like your own?

I think separating yourself from everyone else is having a true, authentic story that goes along with your work and not just, “Hey, I’m a photographer. I want to take a picture of this. Here it is.” Having a story behind it always helps. Treat everything like a personal project.

You’re known for film, but you also shoot on your phone. Does changing the camera change the way you photograph people?

My phone isn’t as intimidating as holding a camera in someone’s face. And it’s quick — really, really quick. It’s essentially like a computer in your pocket.

Does that lack of intimidation allow you to get a different kind of photograph?

Maybe I might just walk up to someone and start taking a photo of them without even saying anything and see where it gets me.