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Steve Rouch was born in Wisconsin in 1951. He grew up in Bloomington in the 50's. He remembers playing in a farmer's soy bean field that later became 35W. Baseball was an early love for Steve as he rode his bike to the first Twins games at the Met and got to watch many a knothole game. He played football in the Met as a kid in City Championship games during Viking half times and met Fran Tarkington through that experience. |
Steve was a swimmer in high school
and learned the value of hard work and persistence through the rigors
of swimming miles a day. He also took up the guitar shortly after the
Beatles came to America and later he played in local rock groups. In college
at Gustavus and later at the U of M he took up Karate and stayed with
it for over 30 years achieving a high rank of Black Belt.
Also in college at
the tender age of 19 he became interested in photography and right away
started doing friends' weddings and portraits. He has been a photographer
since 1971. Steve loved fine art photography and studied under greats
like Ansel Adams.
His classical training in photography with many of the world's greatest
Masters like Monte, Big Daddy Blair, Dean Collins, David Ziser and Jay
Maisel has helped shape his vision. Since he studies outside the Twin
City Area he brings a unique perspective to what clients hope to receive
in their images. Many are astounded by his unusual vision and creativity
... and his playfulness as a person.
Steve is the only Master photographer in Minneapolis and St. Paul. He is also winner of the MN State Wedding album competition
and has been invited to exhibit his work at Epcot Center in Disneyworld.
He has been writing poetry and music since he was a teenager. He has over
50 songs on two CDs to his credit and a book of poetry called "Word
Visions." He is currently working on a book of fine art images called
"Vanishing America."
Steve loves to study
comparative religions and theology. He is an avid traveler with his photographic
work and has been to Europe, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico.
He has studied alternative medicine for two decades and loves studying
classical music as well.
Photography has been
a life long passion for Steve. He always says that if he won the lottery
he would not ever stop making images. He views his work more from the
perspective as being a "visual historian"... not a picture taker.
A huge part of his attraction to photography comes from the idea of creating
images that will last centuries and influence the lives of many, many
people. It comes from his deep love of people and his perception that
all things are beautiful in life. He believes that there is a magical
and sacred element to each person, place or thing in the universe and
if one looks carefully they will find its beauty. He loves to create images
that help people to "see" in a whole new way. Even the most
ordinary moments or objects can be part of profound beauty.
With little money,
Steve got his first studio in the Rossmor building in 1978. He worked
at Century Camera for 8 years in his 20's and bought each piece of equipment
and came to possess each piece of knowledge with blood, sweat and tears.
He basically worked 16 hours a day for the first 10 years of his business
holding a day job to pay his way and a night studio to create his business
out of a handful of dust. It was a tough road but a wonderful one as well.
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