Before Stanley Kubrick sat in the director’s chair of arguably some of the best movies ever made like “2001: Space Odyssey” or “The Shining,” he was a simple teenager in New York looking for a job. But even then, when the 17-year-old got his hands on a photo camera, he couldn’t hide the talent inside of him.

Here we have a collection of his photos captured on the streets of New York from 1945 to 1950, when he was working in the Look magazine. It was a time when Stanley learned what makes photography work: “I think aesthetically recording spontaneous action, rather than carefully posing a picture, is the most valid and expressive use of photography.”

He quickly gained recognition for the ability to tell stories through photos, which eventually led him to movies and his place in the filmmakers’ hall of fame.

And if you’re wondering how to turn your photos into a career, let Stanley himself give you an advice: “Think up ideas for stories, go out and shoot them, and then send them into the magazines. I was lucky; I figured that out when I was young.”

(h/t: vintage everyday, boredpanda)