Stephen Moody was born in 1959 on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, but his artistic journey truly began after his family moved to Salt Lake City. Raised in a divorced household, Moody’s early life was strongly influenced by his mother’s creative spirit. Although he would have preferred spending weekends with friends, his mother often took him to local art shows and the Springville Art Museum, nurturing a lifelong passion for art.

A defining moment occurred when Moody was six years old and his father gave him a Kodak camera. This early gift sparked an enduring fascination with capturing movement and emotion, a hallmark of his later work. In seventh grade, after facing a harsh critique from his art teacher, Moody turned his focus entirely to photography. He built a darkroom at home and learned to develop both black-and-white and color prints. By age 24, he opened his own photography studio in Salt Lake City, where his innovative boudoir portraits and expressive studies of dancers attracted national television attention and launched his artistic career.

In 1990, Moody earned a Master of Photography Degree from the Professional Photographers of America, a milestone that recognized his technical skill and creative vision in the field of photography.

At the age of 13, a trip to Paris with his mother marked another key experience. Standing before Van Gogh’s "L’Eglise Sur l’Oise" at the Jeu de Paume Museum, he was struck by the power of the brushwork and color. That moment solidified his identity as an artist and deepened his appreciation for creative expression.

Moody’s artistic heritage is rich; he descends from Alice Merrill Horne, a trailblazer who helped establish the Utah State Art Institute and build the Alice Art Collection. Recognizing his talent early on, his mother enrolled him in a college-level color theory course at age nine. Frustrated by a professor’s claim that “red doesn’t really exist,” he left the class but remained intrigued by perception and color. He continued studying through professional courses and, while pursuing broadcast journalism and film in college, successfully ran his own photo studio.

Driven by a restless creativity, Moody moved to New York City, where, within three months, he secured his first assignment and saw his work published in leading magazines. Yet, a yearning for deeper artistic fulfillment lingered. A chance underwater nude photography session in Arizona, combined with meetings with an Australian shaman, unlocked the vision he sought, providing the archetypes and foundations for his future paintings.

Moody’s paintings are distinguished by vivid color, dynamic brushwork, and an ethereal celebration of the human form. Whether collaborating with Ballet West dancers or capturing the human body with reverence, he views painting the human figure as an expression of gratitude for “God’s greatest creation.” His style draws inspiration from French Impressionists like Degas and Van Gogh, yet his technique and atmosphere remain uniquely his own.

His creative process is intuitive, shaped by dreams, moments of inspiration from nature and cinema, and the influence of music. Years after closing his portrait studio, Moody began receiving requests from former clients to restore fading photographs. Disheartened by photography’s impermanence, he embraced painting, determined for his work to endure not only decades but millennia. Since then, he has dedicated himself to continual artistic growth, enjoying the camaraderie of painting classes and embracing lifelong learning as the cornerstone of his craft.

Moody’s art resists easy categorization; viewers bring their own experiences to his canvases, and he values the diverse interpretations they inspire. A landmark event took place in 2003 when a Scottsdale gallery featured his work during the city’s renowned art walk, drawing immediate attention and collectors. Since then, his paintings have appeared in numerous galleries across Phoenix and Scottsdale, where he has occasionally served as a resident artist.

One of his most fulfilling commissions was for an Indianapolis restaurant, where his artwork shaped the ambiance and even inspired specialty cocktail names. Early recognition came in 1989 when he received the Intermountain Professional Photographer of the Year award, shortly before relocating to New York.

Beyond visual art, Moody is a published novelist whose painted characters inspire and inhabit his fiction. His dual careers as painter and writer intertwine, each fueling new creative directions. With several novels completed and others in progress, his creative output is both varied and prolific.

Stephen Moody’s art celebrates individuality, color, and form—a fusion of photography’s immediacy and painting’s permanence, inspired by dreams and the world’s endless wonder. His career continues to grow, driven by a steadfast commitment to capturing the beauty of the human body and the elusive rhythms of movement, light, and memory.