Welcome to my fine art photography website.

My backstory:
Since junior grade school I'd been diligently studying the photos in newspapers as well as Sports Illustrated and National Geographic magazines and decided I wanted to try my eye at becoming a great photographer. I'd read that anyone can be anything they want in life if they're prepared to put in lots of work and persevere. And if you really enjoy what you are pursuing, then you are miles ahead on your journey. Not really grasping the depth of this statement at the time, I ventured ahead anyway.

In 1984 I went to London, England where I became a darkroom technician at a photographic agency called Colorsport, a company that distributed their photographs to publications all around the world. Colorsport consisted of three talented photographers in an office stuffed with hundreds of boxes and filing cabinets of sports photographs, negatives and slides. My job was to manually print black & white photos, process and copy colour slide photos, and send them off by post or courier to these publications (digital cameras, Photoshop, email and the internet weren't around then). But the bonus was that they sent me - a fairly naiive, but motivated kid - out to photograph soccer, rugby, athletics, boxing and cricket matches. They handed me two well-used Nikons, a bunch of lenses, a beat up old camera bag and some black & white film. My first assignment was with Colin "Big C" Elsey, a renowned rugby photographer (you can google him) who showed me how to load film quickly, properly hold the camera with the big lens and anticipate where to be for the next play without getting bowled over by 250-lb. players. I was impressed by his fast-thinking abilities and reaction skills and tried my best to emulate him. One of my photos from this assignment was published in the national Daily Telegraph newspaper. I was thrilled. Still there was much more to learn. I continued venturing ahead.

I returned to Toronto in 1986 and immediately began freelancing with the Hockey News, Toronto Sun and other publications, while photographing stock images of nature and wildlife. I landed a part-time job as a news photographer at the Richmond Hill Liberal newspaper, one of many suburban papers owned by Metroland, a division of the Torstar Corporation. I maintained my freelance work photographing for several publications and Colorsport. Assignments included covering the NFL, NHL and the Calgary Olympics (remember Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards, the now-legendary British ski jumper?).

In the 90s I met studio/corporate photographer John Narvali: www.narvali.com, who mentored me on many things including how to conduct business professionally, with pride, while keeping grounded with a sense of humour. He helped me expand my technical knowledge, creativity and confidence. I became totally immersed into studio, food, and advertising photography.

In the late 90s, Radisson Hotels and Resorts hired me to continue an ad campaign started by renowned photographer Elliot Erwitt, photographing hotel employees interacting with guests. We flew all over North America on these intense shoots. These images ran in many major publications including the New York Times, USA Today, BusinessWeek and Forbes. In the meantime, I introduced writing to my skill set and had articles and photos published in the Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Sun, Explore magazine, Travel Holiday magazine and others.

I am a full-time staff photographer at Metroland/TorStar Media in the greater Toronto, Ontario area. Along with all the newspapers, I contribute daily to our website: www.yorkregion.com and shoot lifestyle and news videos as well as writing articles on photography and other topics.
I still freelance and continue to find beauty in nature and wildlife all around us. This type of photography is very exhilarating to me, with lots of room for creativity and experimentation. Many of these images are presented here at my website. Please tour around. Feel free to contact me with your comments.

Venturing ahead, Steve Somerville

somerville360@rogers.com

Please contact me with details if you have specific home or office decor needs.

The printing, mounting, framing, packaging and delivery quality here through Fine Art America is all absolutely top notch. They provide the utmost in professionalism.

*** The images presented at Fine Art America are for retail, non-commercial, personal decor purposes only. These images are copyright owned and protected by Steve Somerville. For commercial, public relations, publications, website art, advertising, and any and all other uses, including reproduction and/or re-transmission, please contact the vendor at: somerville360@rogers.com