Tyler — Prod. Upside

Tyler, known professionally as Prod. Upside, is a St. Louis producer and audio engineer whose work spans beatmaking, recording, mixing, and mastering. By combining analog and digital techniques, he helps artists develop songs from their earliest ideas into finished records with a sound that feels distinctly their own.

I met Tyler through Ellis Brodsky and photographed him alongside his friend Matt for the visual world surrounding Tyler’s first album. Although we completed only one dedicated shoot, it gave me the opportunity to create imagery for someone whose most important creative decisions usually happen behind the scenes.

Producers are often heard without being seen. Their choices shape the rhythm, atmosphere, emotion, and identity of a record, while the person responsible can remain invisible to the listener. Our shoot gave Tyler space to establish a visual presence connected to the music he was beginning to release under the Upside name.

These photographs preserve an early chapter in that identity: one album, one collaborative session, and a producer beginning to give the work happening behind the speakers a face of its own.