Stanley Beck was born and raised in New Orleans, leaving only after being displaced by hurricane Katrina. As a student at the John McCrady School of Fine and Applied Arts, he studied painting, specializing in oils and acrylics. After art school, he began selling his paintings in the French Quarter and his clientele included people and businesses throughout the world, from Europe, South America and Asia, besides North America.

He was always interested in photography, and used the camera for taking notes for his paintings. In the 1990’s, he started doing more photography, photographing the French Quarter, New Orleans, and Southeast Louisiana. He soon realized that as time moved forward, the local culture was changing, and landmarks were disappearing. These things needed to be documented.