Pep Williams is an American fine art and street photographer, director, entrepreneur, 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. Williams has worked sporadically in the music industry working with the A&R departments with such labels as Death Row Records and Interscope Records. From this music business background he later transitioned into 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. 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. Life and career A third-generation Dogtown skater, Williams started skateboarding in 1975 at the age of four and throughout 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. Williams himself went on to become a pro skateboarder within the industry, appearing on a 1991 cover of Thrasher Magazine, and numerous advertisements in many magazines and commercials. Being a visible skateboarder led to modeling work for his sponsors in international fashion shows and photoshoots, where Williams was often surrounded by highly talented photographers, whom he observed acutely. 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, Williams 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 through 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 as a photographer, he found