About Steven Wohlwender
Steven Wohlwender is a photographer and director based in Half Moon Bay, California. For over 25 years he's been serving some of the most respected international brands. With the support of his world class team, his creations have been recognized for their excellence by the most prestigious photography/design organizations and publications in the world.
The SHORT STORY "I was made in Kentucky, seasoned in Chicago, and now being aged in Northern California.".
The LONG STORY Steven Jude Wohlwender was born in Northern Kentucky on 1 May 1967, and now resides with his wife and two daughters in San Mateo, California. After studying art at Central Academy of Commercial Art and the Art Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio, he moved to Chicago where he furthered his studies at the Art Institute; however, Steven's primary reason for moving to the metropolis was to pursue a career as an advertising Art Director. For over fifteen years Wohlwender held positions as Art Director and Creative Director, including a tour of agencies on Michigan Avenue, where he created visual branding in the form of print advertising and television commercials for a diverse mix of global brands: Gatorade, Coors Brewing, Motorola, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Kraft, McDonnell Douglas, U.S. Army, John Hughes Entertainment, John Deere, Princess Cruises and more. While working at his final agency - Leo Burnett, he did double-duty as CD and Photographer on the Marlboro business. His first subjects were Cowboys in the American West and Indy 500 cars (Marlboro Team Penske). Working on these international brands with their elaborate ideas and generous production budgets afforded Wohlwender the privilege to collaborate with some of the most successful photographers and film directors worldwide. Wohlwender is a self-taught photographer; in all the years he studied art, he never attended a photography class, but he himself considers his photography education a formal one, for it was from those who inspired him most that his ability to create storytelling images with an unconventional view, a studied light and color palette, and an emotional wallop, were born. Wohlwender has photographed in twenty-one countries, including film documentaries in Afghanistan and Tanzania.