Stephanie Alavaerz-Ewens at the Wells Point

This Zoom recording features Stephanie Alvarez Ewens, who has been a photojournalist, documentary photographer, and portrait photographer for over twenty years. Stephanie lives in Cranston, Rhode Island with her two daughters and husband.
 Stephanie graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Economics, but it was a photography class her senior year that propelled her into a career of photojournalism and portrait photography. She went on to study photojournalism and documentary photography at San Francisco State and The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. She opened her own business in 2008. Her interest in telling people’s stories has fueled her love of photography and this passion remains strong in her work today. Stephanie comes from a family of immigrants and she’s always been curious about people and other cultures, as well about how people relate and the fact that everyone’s story is unique and interesting. She’s found that her camera is her most useful tool in understanding people and helping share their stories. In the presentation, she talked about how her upbringing contributed to her way of walking through the world and has kept her continually wanting to learn more about her craft, seeking out professionals in all different areas to help her become a better photographer. Throughout her twenty-year career, she’s assisted many different types of photographers, worked at several newspapers in California and RI and most recently has focused on portrait photography. It is in her studio where she is now able to take everything she’s learned from each job and put that towards her work in photographing men and women, telling their story and empowering them to be confident in front of the camera.