  We investigate the behavior of the retarded Green's function of a U(1) gauge
field in holographic N=4 Super Yang-Mills plasma, taking the leading strong
coupling corrections into account. First, we use the thermal limit of this
quantity to determine the flow of the photon quasinormal mode spectrum away
from the infinite 't Hooft coupling limit, and after this specialize to a
specific model of holographic thermalization, in which we evaluate the
corresponding spectral density. In the latter case, our primary interest lies
in the pattern, with which the spectral density approaches its equilibrium
form, and how this process depends on the value of the coupling as well as the
photon virtuality. All of the results obtained point consistently towards the
weakening of the usual top/down pattern of holographic thermalization, once the
coupling is decreased from the \lambda=infinity limit.
