I was born Steven Meyer-Rassow in Munich (Germany) in 1980. Throughout my childhood I was privileged to be raised in Singapore, South Africa, Germany & the UK, which exposed me to a multitude of different cultures and naturally all the visual stimuli associated with relevant countries and continents. Even at a very young I recall being very receptive to visual communication, and have always viewed art & design as something that should be equally fun & exciting yet also rewarding in a professional sense. In fact one of my earliest childhood memories has to be my mother keeping me entertained by doodling a load of squiggles on a piece of paper and asking me to colour in all the spaces in between with differing colours, making sure that no adjacent shapes ended up being the same colour. I guess this must have distilled an early appetite for creative output as well as a sense so please clients, in this case my mother, who was merely trying to busy me whilst she could get on with the housework

 

 

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Even before I started primary school, I asked my mother to teach me how to draw the shapes of our western alphabet, and to this day I still very much nurture a distinct passion for typography, design, photography & fine art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At school, although I was never all that talented at drawing or painting, I kept pushing myself to further my skills. When I was doing my a-level art, I recall being somewhat frustrated by the confinements of the syllabus, which was very much weighted towards drawing & painting. For whatever reason though I carried this interest on past my a-levels and enrolled for a Foundation Year in Art & Design, which proved to be pivotal in my approach to everything visual & also the first real contact I had with photography. I consider myself to be lucky enough to still have been taught the traditional darkroom techniques. I remember being very impressed by the amount of control I had over the final image, and the ability certain darkroom techniques (dodging, blending, burning, masking, colour shifts, cross-processing, etc…) gave me. I still love the fact that a selection of photographers processing & printing from the very same negative will all come up with a slightly differing final image. During my studies for my degree in Graphic Design I chose photography as my major support study, and in 2006 purchased my first digital slr, and consequentially started shifting towards a digital darkroom in the form of Photoshop. Personally the main advantage the digital darkroom has over a traditional, chemical based darkroom, is the sheer acceleration in my process & workflow. No matter what purists say about all the problems & pitfalls associated with a digital workflow, I simply cannot deny that 10 years ago I would have not been able to produce the kind of images I do in the amount of time it takes these days form shooting to final printed result. And with the rise of digital distribution & the internet as a marketing tool for photographers it seems only natural to me that a digital capture makes most sense these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the actual subjects of my photographic images, I guess a sense of lively solitude is a notion that could be drawn from it. I'm fascinated by opposites and the importance extremes play in helping to define or understand the greyscale inbetween. Light and shade as captured in photography is a powerful medium to convey this. I also like the juxtaposition of vibrant, energetic colours against fairly simplistic landscapes, which is where the infra-red photographs stem from. I must admit that there’s also a sincere interest in all the associated techniques & have to constantly fight desires for more equipment & better gadgets. Above all, I actually find it pretty tough to pass judgement or explain my work or the motivations behind it. I kind of feel artists can always learn so much more about themselves and their work by getting viewers opinions, rather than viewers understanding more about the work by hearing the artists intentions behind the work, if that makes any sense…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I graduated last year (2007) from Central St.Martins college of Art & Design, London with a degree in graphic design and am currently working for one of the 10 biggest music distributors here in the UK as a full time graphic designer. I also take on freelance commissions and generally consider all work worthy, although currently the core of my creative work is commissioned by record labels, musicians & various other music related industries, which suits me just fine. I love my job!

My website, as well as my flickr profile are probably the best place to start seeing more of what I do. And I always welcome a challenge & any project, no matter how big or small, gets serious consideration by myself. For the not too distant future, I’m hoping to launch a CowGummy clothing line, as well as finding a more commercial avenue for my photography & just altogether yet further immersing myself in the world of visual communication.