by Glenn Steiner 2007

Within my 30-year photography career, it has been my great desire to give back unconditionally that which I have learned as a commercial photographer and artist. The professional photographer has long been acknowledged as being the final educational link in the young photographer's matriculation from student to assistant to professional. There is no greater satisfaction for the teacher than this, watching the proverbial light flash where darkness had reigned before. Personally, I have trained thirty unique individuals in my time and watched them to go on to lead fruitful, successful careers.

This teaching goes well beyond rote memorization of photographic fact, although the importance of this should go without saying. More deeply, the teacher delves into the philosophy of success, marketing, positioning for excellence within the field, and striving for individuality of the artist's work that will so ensure their future professional viability. Within the business of commercial photography, the ability to light and experiment with light is paramount to success. Light itself may be said to be invisible. The journey of the young photographer involves not only learning how to "see the unseen," but also understanding how to work with it fluently, in all situations. Thus, expertise within the studio is essential the student/assistant/photographer. This experience is what I bring to the plate.

The evolving digital world has transformed teaching most beneficially for the modern student. He/She may instantly see and understand their actions on the monitor, while working his/her lighting patterns in real time. Greater strides may be now made, where only small ones had been possible before. The photographic studio, like the laboratory for the physical sciences, unifies academia with the real world of hypothesis, testing and innovation. Within experimentation lies the young photographer's future. Practice makes perfection possible.

I strive for a balanced, interdisciplinary approach.

I prefer the methodos of Plato. One must make a choice between watching the shadows dance on the wall of the proverbial cave, and choosing to stare directly towards the source of light, knowledge and life itself.