I always find it difficult to write statements about my work or myself. I suppose that is why I am a photographer and not a writer. The truth is I had an awakening of sorts, of my creative self, about 25 years ago. Since that time I have used Photography as a means to explore life and share my vision with others.

I love photographing people. I love the casual conversation that exists during a photo session as I try to find the real person that’s concealed behind their best picture taking mask. You know the one – with the big smile and the head angled a certain way – the one you have been practicing for 3 days. I wouldn’t dare say I could capture ones soul but I have had a great deal of success capturing a glimpse of someone that their family and friends will recognize as the person they love and care about.

Photography has changed so much since I started and I guess I have as well. One thing that has not changed in all these years - My love of creating beautiful images that represent the life that I live, the people I have met and the places I have been. I still live each day with new eyes.

Biography

Steve was born in Kansas City, KS on the north side of town, just off of Quindaro. His father taught him from an early age to work hard, help those less fortunate than yourself and don’t back down from what you believe in. “I really had a good childhood, my dad was a good provider, my mom was able to stay home and raise us kids and I got to live in a great town with wonderful neighborhoods and a lively downtown.”

After high school, Steve didn’t have a plan, a desire, nor the money to attend college, so he did as many of his generation did - He joined the service. Steve spent a tour of duty in Vietnam, and thankfully returned home to attend college on the G.I. bill. Four years later he took a job as a Respiratory Therapist at the local University Medical Center. He excelled as a clinician and was very popular with students because of his ability to simplify complex concepts. He was soon promoted, overseeing a postgraduate residency program and the continued development of 50 staff therapists. “ It was a job I loved and I loved the people I worked with. There is great satisfaction in helping others but it can be a painful and very stressful environment to work in. It was about this time that I started realizing just how important photography had become to me. How happy I was when I was photographing.”

So he quit his job and spent the next several years learning how to make beautiful images. Steve is self-taught for the most part but did have the opportunity to work with a few excellent photographers and staff that helped fill in the gaps. He was attracted to Advertising and Magazine photography because it set a high standard for quality of work. “You constantly have to produce, under the gun and on time. One day it’s people the next day it’s cattle – you just never knew”.

Steve specialized in Annual Reports and Lifestyle work. Photographing people was a natural for him. He has always enjoyed talking to people about their life experiences and their philosophies but twelve years of Advertising work was enough. He still has a studio but concentrates more on individual portraits, creating images from his travels and teaching young people how to use photography as a means of self-expression.