Jon Steele
Jon Steele has recorded more professional accomplishments than perhaps any other Texas surf photographer in the past 15 years. He is a past photo editor of SG and SurfShot magazines. His work has been published in the New York Times, Men’s Journal and at least a dozen surfing and skateboarding magazines. He has traveled widely, shooting the sport’s top professionals riding some of the world’s biggest and best waves. Several years ago, the highly regarded Surfer’s Journal named him one of the world’s top up-and-coming young surf photographers.
Steele, 34, grew up in Corpus Christi. He started studying photography at Corpus Christi’s Del Mar College. He later graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in digital media at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California. He has worked as a professional photographer for the past 12 years, shooting both stills and video. He lives in Southern California today, but he still spends a lot of time surfing, shooting photos and putting on photo shows in Texas.
“I am blessed to have one of Southern California's most progressive waves, Lower Trestles, as my backyard, and to work with the finest surfers in the world,” Steele, 34, told the Texas Surf Museum. “I travel as much as I can and enjoy finding new waves, friends, and cultural taboos as well as problems that face the surfing communities and waves. I enjoy everything about surf photography: the sun, the beach girls, the self governing work ethic, the skate and surf lifestyle, the friends I make and the new experiences that come with it. I love both the warm and cold water. I love the smell of old, rotting wetsuits on the floorboards of cars. I love cheating death in big waves, fighting infections and dehydration in foreign countries, traveling and the surplus of good times that go along with surfing adventures. I feel that meeting new people and becoming life-long friends with them, as well as experiencing new cultures through surfing and skating lifestyles, are more of a reward than any paycheck you can receive. My feet are in the sand when I am in my office, and you just can’t beat that.”
Steele’s photos can be seen at HYPERLINK "http://www.jonsteelephoto.com" www.jonsteelephoto.com.