We recently connected with Stefan Glazer and have shared our conversation below.

Stefan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

When I first started photography, it was an idea of taking my eye and creativity and moving into a space where I would be able to sell my services with a camera, editing, and more back in 2015. However, when I made that first dollar, it was hollow. I didn’t understand why I was getting paid for doing what I loved, and I wasn’t happy about it. I was doing commercial photography for a contractor. I was tasked with doing before-and-after photographs of his work. It paid well enough, but also, it felt like I wasn’t doing what I wanted. It was a very confusing time because I poured myself into photography and was unfulfilled by the work I was doing.

I am glad I stuck to it, because I became a published pet photographer, and even had a few portrait and headshot jobs in my day, but I was always feeling like I wasn’t doing exactly what I needed to do. Until I was invited to document and photograph a sacred ceremony. That is when it finally all clicked. Combining my love and skills as a photographer and bringing them to practitioners and sacred spaces without disrupting the energy or flow of an event was my calling.

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.

Those who have read about me before might remember my days as a pet photographer and pet influencer. A lot has changed since then, and my personal life began intersecting with my business life before long. There are many things people call it these days: “Metaphysical Studies,” “Spiritual,” or even “New Age Hippie,” which I kind of like that last one. I was always a practitioner of meditation and mindfulness, as it helped me navigate my Severe Inattentive ADHD. I even wrote a book on how it did: “Tools for Navigating Neurodivergence,” with a whole section on meditation and a follow-up book in the works devoted solely to meditation practices.

It was after my divorce that I moved to the southwest in New Mexico and started “The Pneuma Collective.” I was already working with practitioners of so many different modalities, energy workers, sound healers, massage therapists, tarot readers, shamans, and more. It was with creating this collective that I have been able to focus on helping the helpers. Creating wonderful imagery for their own practices and finding my own. After creating the collective, I found that a few friends were asking if I had ever facilitated a meditation. I never had, and that didn’t feel like something exactly what I wanted to do. I was the silent giant who helped hold space while he photographed these intimate and beautiful moments of inner work. I was never the one to be in the middle of it all.

Then it clicked, I had one person reach out to me asking for help with a meditation to get to sleep, to calm their nervous system, and help them relax. So, I asked them to send me a small email of what frustrated them and what they wanted. I began writing, from top to bottom, a custom meditation for that person. I wrote, recorded, and produced it with my own music. And that tied together the other side of what I do. I went from being an aligned photographer who could work in these sacred spaces to being an aligned photographer who also created sacred spaces in people’s minds. Channeling forth whatever came to me as I focused on the person I was creating for.

It’s my focus to connect as many practitioners together as I can with the Pneuma Collective and help them grow with my photography. Even if they can’t pay, an equal energetic trade in services is worth more than money in most senses. Creating a space where someone can get a curated, custom meditation for their needs also opens up a world of beautiful connection with friends and strangers alike.

It’s the melding of these things that has kept me fulfilled and so excited with every single breath I take. A far cry from my past in commercial photography or even pet photography. Though pet photography is always going to be a fun time, just not my focus. Connecting with and connecting other practitioners of many different modalities is my goal.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivoting in life is necessary. When you offer services for free or in trade to practitioners that resonate with you, you have to find a way to figure out how to make money still. As much as I wish I could live a life off trade or bartering of services and goods without monetary value, the world we live in is still wants that pesky dollar. It’s why I have tried to create multiple facets of what I do that can’t be truly replicated by AI.

I used to sell landscape artwork I photographed and write articles for publications as a side business, because I have the abilities as a writer and photographer to do so. It was lucrative enough to cover my costs of living, so I could focus more time on connecting with those energetically aligned with me and fostering those connections to grow the Pneuma Collective. However, generative AI took a lot of that income away over time as jobs that were once lucrative dried up. I still sell some of my landscape photography online, however, it hasn’t been a focus at all, since I started to realise that no one has my voice, intention, or energy but me. This is why the meditations and my work in sacred spaces are so important and the main focus now, instead of just an “also I do this.”

I pivoted to focus on the real, human, experiences. The experiences that have flaws, raw connection, and humanity. If they are replicated by AI, they fall flat and ring hollow.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Losing nearly 6 figures in income over the last 3 years to generative AI while still trying to grow the collective was a struggle enough. But I am trying to maintain the balance of my energy, my work, while also being a full-time caretaker for an elderly family member who is disabled. All while facing my own health challenges that nearly cost me my life in 2025, it has been a constant test of my resilience.

I just have faith in my own vision. I will continue to lead with love in all I do and want to connect with as many beautiful artists, healers, and musicians as I can with my time on this earth. It’s not even about connecting with the spiritual or spiritual communities; it’s connecting with those energetically aligned.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stefanglazer.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sng.photo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stefan.glazer
• Other: My meditations, sound design, and ambient tracks are available the Pneuma Collective’s website. You can also add your practice to the now-open list of practitioners.

  https://pneumacollective.com/open/