Ocie Clelland Photography

08/23/2026

More Malika!! Can’t wait to work with her again!

08/17/2026

Hangin’ At Hudson Yards

08/09/2026

Portrait mini sessions coming in OCTOBER!! Fall foliage and a nice outfit. Booking dates soon! Stay Tuned!

08/09/2026

The first phase of Ocie Clelland Photography!

Join me for “First Coffee, PhotoWalk & Talk”

First Coffee, PhotoWalk & Talk is a simple concept:

We start with a good cup of coffee, step outside, and slow down.

This isn't about collecting camera settings or chasing technical perfection. It’s about learning to actually see your environment, paying attention to light, shadows, subtle moments, and perspective before you ever lift the camera to capture anything.

Whether you bring a professional camera or just your phone, come join us to reframe how you observe the world around you.

Eventbrite details are coming tomorrow!! Hope to see you there.

08/06/2026

Creatives…give this a read!! It goes live at 7pm!

Reframing What CSA Is Really About.

06/07/2026

Real question for my creative community:

How many hours did you lose this week to things that had nothing to do with your actual craft?

Not the creative work. The other stuff — following up on invoices, rebuilding templates, trying to figure out what to post, sending the same onboarding email for the tenth time.

I'm asking because I've been sitting with this for a while. And I'm building something specifically for creatives who are tired of working around their business instead of inside their art.

It's called Creative Systems Architecture. And it's almost ready.

Drop a number below — how many hours of your week go to the "janitor work" of running your business? I want to know.

06/05/2026

Join me on Substack: Subscribe to the news letter:

Before the camera, comes awareness. Click to read Before The Gear: Notes On Seeing, Interpreting & Creating, by Ocie Clelland, a Substack publication. Launched 2 days ago.

05/16/2026

When the sun dips below the horizon, most beginner photographers start cranking up their ISO or simply packing up their gear. They’re either fighting the darkness, trying to record a scene that the light no longer supports or just giving up on it altogether.
I took these quite some time ago at South Street Seaport. The sunset was beautiful and then these bikers showed up. They stood around talking at first and then the tricks started. The jumps and tricks against the beautiful backdrop of the sunset sky.
In that moment, I had a choice to make. A traditional action shot, frozen details, high shutter speed, pushed ISO. Nah that was a losing battle. The constraints were real.
But…as my philosophy dictates, awareness comes before settings. Before I even touched a dial, I stopped looking at what I was losing and started looking at what I had: a sick, glowing canvas of a sky. I quickly decided that I didn’t need detail. I needed drama and I chose silhouettes.
By purposely exposing for the sky, the bikers became the drama I needed. The distraction of clothing and faces disappeared, leaving just the raw movement against the city.
Next time you think you’re running out of light, don’t react. Look at what the light is actually doing, and work with that.
Don’t just record the scene. See it and interpret it differently.