Pep Williams

Pep Williams is an American fine art and street photographer, director, entrepreneur, philanthropist and former professional skateboarder who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, California. He has traveled globally creating material for his photographic exhibitions. He is one of the only photographers to have ever been granted access into the California State Prison System where he created a series of inmate portraitures entitled, Behind Bars.[1][2][3][4]

Pep Williams
Born
Pep Williams

May 25, 1971
Los Angeles
OccupationPhotographer, Director, Pro Skateboarder
Websitehttps://pepwilliams.com

Williams has worked sporadically in the music industry working with the A&R departments with such labels as Death Row Records and Interscope Records. Later getting into photography his music business background made it easy to transition into photographing artist such as photographing artists such as; Chris Brown, Nick Cannon, Offset, and Suicidal Tendencies. He has been published in many fashion, music, and lifestyle magazines such as W magazine, Thrasher Magazine, Inked Magazine, Breaks, One West, Mass Ink, Urban Ink Magazine, etc.[5][6][7]

His images have been shown in galleries in Japan, Portugal, Brazil, Germany, and the U.S. and he is associated with charity art organizations such as The Art Of Elysium.[8][9][10]

Life and career

A third-generation Dogtown skater, Williams started skateboarding in 1975 at the age of four and through his youth was influenced by important Californian skaters of the time such as; close friends Jay Adams, Christian Hosoi, Aaron Murray, Natas Kaupas, Julien Stranger, Eric Dressen, and Kareem Campbell. Pep himself went on to become a well-respected pro skateboarder within the industry, appearing on a 1991 cover of Thrasher Magazine, and numerous advertisements in many magazines and commercials. [11][8]

Being a visible skateboarder led to modeling work for his sponsors in international fashion shows and photoshoots, where Pep was often surrounded by highly talented photographers, whom he observed acutely.[12]

Williams began working as a professional photographer in 1996 when a photographer who had been scheduled to document a fashion show that he was doing as a model was booked on another job and couldn't attend. As the designer was desperately searching for a replacement, it was revealed that the job paid six-thousand dollars. Seizing the opportunity, Pep immediately declared to the designer, "I'm also a photographer" and was hired on the spot, even with the absence of an actual photographer's portfolio. He made it thru that first job with the help of a skilled photographic assistant he hired to handle the technicalities, something he had observed notable photographers do innumerable times. More jobs followed, but as he came into his own a photographer he found himself rapidly tiring of the fashion world and began to focus on fine art portraiture, mostly of his friends; skaters, musicians, artists, drug dealers and gang members.[13]

The Perfect Storm (Pep Williams $1.4 million photograph)

"The Perfect Storm". This image came about when Pep Williams was hanging out with Jay Adams in Oahu on the North Shore in 2010. What’s special about this image is at this moment Jay didn’t know he was being photographed. A true canid moment. Moments before the image was taken Jay was giving advice on life and relationships to a young girl sitting on the ground next to him. The phone rang and she left to answer it. Pep was sitting across from Jay and saw a look come over his face. It was like he was going over everything in his head what he had just told the young girl. The camera was sitting in Pep’s lap and he was hoping the camera was in focus and begin to shoot 3 frames from his lap.

Pep reached out to RISK to paint on the image. RISK knew Jay well and what he stood for. “There was really no other person I thought of to paint on the image. There is only one, RISK.” —Pep Williams.

Behind Bars (Autry Museum Exhibit)

Behind Bars[14] is a photographic series photographed by Pep Williams on display in a permanent exhibit at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. The photographs are shot inside the Prisons in California. He was one of a few photographers to have ever been allowed inside to shoot the inmates freely. And as a former pro skateboarder, he was allowed to bring skateboards inside the grounds and actually let the inmates skate. This had never been done before. The images from the Behind Bars exhibit have been exhibited and lectured about at Leica Los Angeles, the University of California, Irvine , Alberta Rose Theater in Oregon and Adidas headquarters in Germany.[13][15][16][17][18]

Museum exhibits

2010 California African American Museum (CAAM) - "How We Roll"[19]

2017 Museum Of Latin American Art (MOLLA) [20]

2020 Autry Museum of the American West (Permanent Exhibit) [21]

Group exhibitions

Books
  • 2012 "Inkarnation" written by David Report (Pep William's images featured)[25][26]

Music videos
  • 2013 "Cyco Style" Suicidal Tendencies (director)[27]
  • 2017 "Live For Life" Suicidal Tendencies (director)[28]

References
  1. "I Shot Photos Inside a California State Prison". petapixel.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  2. "February: Pep Williams, Leica Photographer & 3rd Gen. Dogtown Skater – Connecting Things". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  3. "Out of the comfort zone". Loupedeck. Mar 13, 2018. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  4. "Powerful LA Tattoo Portraits by Pep Williams". Complex. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  5. Taco, L. a (Dec 15, 2013). "Pep Williams Shoots Chris Brown for Urban Ink Magazine". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  6. "Offset's Photographer on the Making of the 'Father of 4' Cover". Complex. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  7. "Pep Williams Photography". pepwilliams.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  8. "Tattoo Advice and History - Jinxi Boo". www.jinxiboo.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  9. "Gift Art Kits". The Art of Elysium. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  10. "Paddle8 | For the 21st-century collector". www.paddle8.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  11. Brascia, Lorenza. "Skateboard legend Jay Adams dies of heart attack". CNN. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  12. "Meet Pep Williams: Professional Skater / Photographer O.G." Sep 21, 2010. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  13. "Uncouched with Pep Williams". Couch Bros. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  14. "Contemporary Viewpoints in a History Gallery: Photographs by Pep Williams in the special installation Behind Bars". Autry Museum of the American West. 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2021-01-02.
  15. "Prison Series". pepwilliams.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  16. "Pep Williams Speaks at UC Irvine at Connecting Things". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  17. "Pep Williams Speaks at Fail Fest for Adidas in Portland, Oregon". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  18. "Pep Williams Speaks at Leica Store Los Angeles". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  19. "FTC SF | "HOW WE ROLL"". ftcsf.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  20. TeddyG1970 (2017-03-07). "L.A. Story". Xposer Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  21. "Behind Bars: Incarceration in the West". Autry Museum of the American West. 2019-11-22. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  22. "brooklyn-street-art-momo-jaime-rojo-08-09". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  23. "Photoville 2017 // 2017 // North America (not urgent translatable) // Local // About Leica Events // Leica Events // World of Leica - Leica Camera AG". us.leica-camera.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  24. "Pep Williams Photography displayed at Good Art HLYWD". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  25. "inkarnation - tattoo & lifestyle book". cargocollective.com. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  26. "Inkarnation – book about tattoo and lifestyle". David Report. Nov 12, 2012. Retrieved Jun 7, 2019.
  27. "Suicidal Tendencies: Cyco Style". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019 – via www.imdb.com.
  28. "Suicidal Tendencies: Living for Life". Retrieved Jun 7, 2019 – via www.imdb.com.
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