Today we’d like to introduce you to Ross Steensland.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started my photography journey about nine years ago, when my wife convinced me to purchase my first real camera. I began by fumbling with dials, watching countless YouTube videos, and joining a local camera club. Over time, I gradually built my knowledge and developed the skills to become a competent photographer.
As my style evolved, I gravitated toward landscape and automotive photography, genres that suited my introverted nature and my desire to explore new places. Eventually, I became especially interested in landscape astrophotography, a much more technical genre that combines my love of the outdoors with the challenge of capturing celestial objects against a midnight landscape.
Alongside my landscape and astrophotography adventures, I regularly photograph real estate and occasionally take on weddings and family portraits. Each genre brings its own challenges, and together they have allowed me to continually grow as a photographer while keeping my work varied and exciting.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s been a slow road to reach my current level. Most of my skills have been developed independently over the years through trial and error, countless YouTube videos, and no shortage of experimentation. The cost of photography gear is also a never-ending challenge, as there always seems to be another expensive lens, camera body, computer upgrade, or specialized piece of astrophotography software on my radar.
On top of that, photography is a part-time business for me, as I work full-time as a Forester. Balancing the two often means editing or researching late into the night and spending my limited free time out shooting, but it’s a challenge I’ve come to embrace.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Even though real estate photography is my bread and butter, I consider landscape astrophotography to be my specialty. From the beginning of my photographic journey, I’ve had an innate interest in photographing the stars and revealing what lies beyond what we can see, and presenting it from an interesting location.
I started by photographing the Milky Way with relatively basic equipment and editing techniques. Eventually, I invested in an astro-modified camera capable of capturing subtle red nebulosity produced by Hydrogen-alpha emission nebula. This opened up a new level of detail and targets, but also came with a steep learning curve.
This year I took things a step further by developing my workflow to incorporate very long-exposure, multi-row panoramas. This technique allows me to capture faint nebulosity and interstellar dust that would otherwise be nearly impossible to see in standard practices. Naturally, advancing my process required another round of equipment upgrades, including a new lens, specialized astrophotography software, and a powerful computer capable of handling the processing workload.
The result is a style of photography that produces highly detailed and visually unique nightscape images.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I have an evil twin, who is also into photography.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://steenslandphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rsteensland
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rsteensland
