We were lucky to catch up with Bob Steiner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Bob thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

My father was an advertising executive and photographer in the late ’60s. He was one of the original Mad Men – having worked at Y&R (Young and Rubicam) in NYC until starting his own company, Comptomark – located on Madison Avenue, in the mid-’70s. In the early years of my father’s agency, he did most of the photographing himself. As such, he needed an assistant, so I ended up being his gaffer on many commercial shoots when I wasn’t in school. It was here that I learned about lighting, staging, directing, camera settings, and developing film. More importantly, it was my father’s laser-focused attention to detail that really laid the groundwork for my future as a photographer. This ‘old school’ approach, however, did slow down my transition from film to digital photography years later. I had started my own business, Bob Steiner Photography, but I was stuck in ‘purist’ mode for years believing that digital photography was ‘fake photography’ or just a ‘fad’ until the economics of the former made me realize that digital was the wave of the future. I was spending so much money on film and subsequent developing costs that it nearly suffocated my business.

By the mid-2000s, I knew that I needed to create a new business model in order to survive. So, I sold all of my old equipment and bought my first digital camera. I quickly realized that my new workflow was both faster and more cost-efficient. I no longer had to worry about switching out expensive rolls of film to conform to the current lighting conditions or taking days to get proofs to my clients because of developing and/or print shipping delays.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My services include headshot photography, commercial photography, as well as aerial drone photography. I am also very proud of my work with Getty Images – with whom I’ve been an exclusive travel and landscape photographer since 2017.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Instagram is really the go-to app for social media these days – especially for photographers. I have grown my audience organically over the past several years to about 10,000 followers – which is not bad for a non-celebrity. My advice for those who are just starting out is to stay true to your work, post regularly, and ensure that your content is relative to your business.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I hold an Associate Broker real estate license in both NY and Georgia – it was through several residential and commercial transactions that I was able to fund my photography business’ initial startup costs – lighting, equipment, studio, and printing costs.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mycameraeye.studio
• Instagram: bobsteinerphotography
• Facebook: Bob Steiner Photography
• Twitter: @bobphotographer

Image Credits
Copyright Bob Steiner Photography 2022