Photographer Wes Guerrier happened upon Welter as if by fate. Here, he talks about how he fell in love with photography and how he happened upon one of his favorite-ever shots. 

I understand that you came to Welter in an interesting way. Can you tell me about that?
Absolutely. I invested in Lyft, and a client of mine [Welter poetry editor Emely Rodriguez]  happened to be a creative person. We got to talking about what she was doing, and she shared with me [that] she’s on this committee involved with this magazine publication. That was fascinating. I never would have imagined that I was connected to someone in the car like that. I’m really grateful for the opportunity. 

How did you become interested in portrait photography?
A friend of mine has his own studio in Silver Spring [Maryland]. He knew that I had done some volunteer work as a videographer in my church days, and he asked me to work on some projects. When I got there, he allowed me to borrow his wife’s DSLR camera. He had an expensive camera. I had never worked with the DSLR camera, but to make a long story short, he had me doing all the creative angles while he was on the tripod. That evening, it was like a light bulb hit my head. Out of all the things that I’ve done in life, for some reason at that moment, I knew it was something I was truly passionate about. It was a drive. I was like, ‘Oh my God, now I have to get a camera.’ And that was it. That’s how it all started. It’s been an amazing journey ever since. 

Can you share the story behind the photo appearing in this issue of Welter, called Details?
As a matter of fact, I was attending a workshop at the Michael Louis Photography Studio in Severn, Maryland. It was a structured program where they assigned each photographer a position number and based on that position, you have X number of minutes to work with the model to shoot. 

The model was MyrrhMade Queen–that’s what she named herself. She’s a talented artist and does body paint, that type of thing. It was her first workshop where she was being featured as a model. This was my test shot. I had seven or eight minutes with her, but based on the settings and the lighting and her makeup and everything, [the first shot] just came out so amazing. 

Photography is about capturing the energy of the moment. I believe that one moment in time is something that can never be duplicated. That’s what drives me. 

Wonderful. Thanks for submitting to Welter!
I’m honored.