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About the Artist
Award-winning photojournalist Stephen Hayford has been documenting community issues for more than 20 years. In that time he has photographed several world leaders, important cultural events, devastating storms and historical meetings. Hayford has worked with The Palm Beach Post, Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald, Rocky Mountain News and other newspapers and wire services in Colorado, Ohio, Missouri and Florida. He became well-versed in Southwest Florida issues covering the area for nine years with The News-Press.
He attained his education from the University of Missouri-Columbia where, aside from majoring in photojournalism, he also focused his study in psychology and sociology to better aid his journalistic work. These skills allow Hayford to better understand and connect with his subjects, capturing honest emotions in an understated way rarely seen.
His work is noted for his versatility with great attention to light, detail and decisive moments. He his now applying these skills, along with exceptional talents in conceptualization, to markets beyond journalism. Hayford creates elaborately detailed dioramas which he populates with customized action figures which are less than four inches tall. He then photographs these unique scenes with great attention to subtle gestures and compositional storytelling. Thus he creates realistic, and sometimes exaggerated, portraits of human behavior in plastic, often inspired by situations witnessed in his news coverage. Hayford's interest in plastics grew out of his childhood fascination for toys and passion for Star Wars. He channels this youthful passion as a freelance artist for Lucasfilm.
And after surviving a major heart surgery to correct a congenital defect, Hayford is a patient advocate. He encourages medical patients to be proactive and take more control of their health care through research and personal interviews with several doctors.
Operating his business without boundaries, Hayford is based in Southwest Florida with his wife and two children.