AXOM Gallery welcomes photographer, Stephen S. Reardon, with his debut fine art exhibition- a selection of works from his ongoing personal project: “CONVERSATION WITH A STRANGER”
In this body of work, Reardon confronts his own “Social Anxiety”. To do this Reardon says he needs two things to happen.
“First, to capture sensation and emotion in each portrait. Second, to do it in just a few minutes after walking up to a complete stranger.”

Reardon chooses a place where he can sit and watch for the right person to appear, and after quickly studying the lighting in the environment and how he will use single speedlight that he brings along, he approaches his model with “a convincing pitch, not with lies, but with the truth and honesty that there is something specifically special about them that deserves to be photographed.”

The resulting photo essay is a series of portraits capturing the character of these individuals, as they experience a brief, but rather intimate first encounter with the stranger as a photographer.
Reardon says, “Conversation With A Stranger… is my authentication, confirming my own existence as a stranger, to you.”

Stephen Reardon, a photographer for over twenty-four years, says he is driven by sensation, emotion and perception of the portrait.
A graduate of Colorado Institute of Arts, with a “Best Advertising Photography Portfolio”, he moved to NYC and was awarded an internship with Annie Leibovitz, an internationally known portrait photographer. After his internship, he moved back to Denver, Colorado and worked in advertising at Dennis Lane Photography for a year, before striking out on his own, working for Denver clients for ten years before returning back to his home town of Rochester, NY, where his commercial work includes creating iconic portraits for the commercial and editorial industry.
Stephen Reardon’s client list is extensive and diverse. It includes orginazations, institutions, and corporations in health care, food and beverage industries, journalism, sports, Real estate, clothing etc.
He has also done pro bono work for Lollypop Farm, Pirate Toy Fund, and TEDxRochester.