OUR STUDIO

OUR STUDIO IN NEW YORK

From 1965 through 1979 my business partner Jim Houghton and I operated a commercial photography studio in the heart of New York City, specializing in fashion and cosmetic advertising, catalogs, editorial illustrations, and record album covers. Before this, we had both worked as assistants to the famous photographer Richard Avedon. Our story is told in the post links below. Just click and read.

Part I: Our Very Own Photo Studio. How, with little money and a few contacts, Jim and I took the plunge and went out on our own.

Part II: Business Begins in Our Studio. Those first clients and how they got us off the ground.

Part III: We Move to Fifth Avenue. Now profitable, Steinbicker/Houghton Inc. moves to new quarters on New York's Fifth Avenue.

Part IV: On Assignment For Time-Life Books. We travel to Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. to photograph all sorts of people, including some in the Capitol and the White House.

Part V: Touring the Pacific for Pan Am. A month-long assignment in 1971 that took us to Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti.

Part VI: Working on the Railroad. We do assignments for Amtrak, and I get to ride up front with the engineer.

Part VII: Shooting Fashions in Jamaica. We spend a week with a famous designer away from the tourist haunts.

Part VIII: What's a Go-See? How both photographers and their models develop skills and build portfolios.

Part IX: Los Angeles on Pocket Change. An unexpected assignment for Esquire Magazine leaves us in L.A. with hardly any cash.

Part X: Rockin' in the Bahamas. We're off to Nassau to do an album cover for the rock group ELP.

Part XI: To Specialize or not to Specialize? — That is the Question.

Part XII: Highway to Hell. We do the cover photos for rockers AC/DC's first really great album.

Part XIII: Hard Times in the Photo Business — An attempt to unionize New York's commercial photographers fails.

Part XIV: Working on a Movie Set for TWA — We do advertising pictures inside a plane mockup in Los Angeles.

Part XV: Why we HAD to be in New York — and why no other place would do.

Part XVI: Our first photo assignment in Europe. Capturing the spirit of three operas on film.

Part XVII: The Cameras We Used. These were our tools back in the days of film.

Part XVIII: Location Vans. This is how we got around on location assignments.

Part XIX: Photographing Chicago (The Band, not the City)

PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANTS: An article I wrote back in 1965 for a trade journal about the hiring of assistant photographers, and what to look for.