Raised on a family farm in Iowa, Don Stevenson left his rural upbringing in the 1970s for his university studies at Arizona State University. With degrees in sociology and journalism, he then worked for newspapers and the wire services for 10 years before starting his own independent photography business. During his newspaper years, Don received more than three dozen state, regional and national awards for his photography and writing. In 1981, Don and a writer he teamed with, were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories they produced on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in northern Arizona.

Since 1985, Don has been providing corporate, industrial and commercial business clients worldwide with images that speak volumes. Not just in content but with a unique blend of design and color and thought. Clients return to Don not only because he provides them with illustrative solutions to their photographic problems, but because he insists that service and professionalism are just as important as the final product. Clients are continually rewarded visually when they provide Don the opportunity to create with his cameras.

Don's images have appeared in international publications, annual reports, advertising campaigns and other media worldwide. His assignment work is strictly on location capturing the essense of a company's people, work environment and products or services.

The Arizona-based freelance location photographer also is an expert on aviation - aerial photography, and agribusiness photos which allows him to return to his Midwest roots three or four times a year. Don has been married 33 years to his wife Debbie, and they have three children. His son Ryan also is an accomplished editorial photographer in Arizona.

Stevenson is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Editorial Photographers association and the non-profit Through Each Others Eyes organization. This Phoenix-based corporation is comprised of the top professional still photographers who work to promote international cultural understanding and education through the medium of photography.

Q. How did you first get started in photography, Don...
A. I first discovered the magic of photography as a senior in high school when my science teacher built a make-shift darkroom in a 4x4 closet. A few weeks later, my family doctor who was also the county medical examiner, called and asked if I would photograph an autopsy of someone who had been shot. I didn't hesitate, and found the whole experience facinating. I received a few dollars for the photos, and I received an A+ on the science report I submitted from that autospy.

Q. What was your first paying job...
A. A year later while visiting my parents from college, a neighboring town had a gas explosion which absolutely leveled the main street killing 13. I always carried my camera, and it paid off that night as I photographed the disaster and rescues for 36 hours. Every few hours my father and brother would drive the film 100 miles to the newspaper in Des Moines for publication. By morning, United Press International had sent a photographer from Omaha, and he ended up transmitting a dozen photos of mine, paying me $25 per photo. Later, when I saw my photos in copies of newspapers sent to our local newspaper office from England, Australia, Hong Kong and other countries, I was hooked on photography.

Q. What was your most memorable assignment...
A. That's a tough one. I'll have to divide that into two categories: during my photojournalism years and then during my commercial and corporate years.

As a photojournalist, I estimate I had more than 3,000 assignments. There were plenty of memorable moments including photographing 5 U.S. presidents, getting assaulted in a locker room by a superstar pitcher from the Los Angeles Dodgers and doing a feature story on a nudist colony (thankfully I had my camera bag with me at all times)!

As a commercial shooter, probably my most memorable moment was when we crashed a helicopter while on assignment for an air medical ambulance company. After lifting from a hospital helipad, the twin-engine helicopter lost one engine. As the pilot made a call to a nearby airport for an emergency landing on its runway, the other engine shut down. The pilot told the medic, nurse and me (I was sitting up front with the pilot) to hold on as he put the blades into auto-rotation which helps keep the helicopter from dropping like a lead balloon. We smashed onto the end of the runway splitting the helicopter's skids right up to the belly of the aircraft. We all just sat there speechless as the fire trucks can roaring down the runway at us. Thankfully, we all walked away from that incident uninjured.

Q. Where do you get your creative inspiration...
A. I do three things for creative inspiration. I watch a movie (either "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray or "Phenomenon" with John Travolta) both of which offer me different outlooks to life in general and my own life in particular. I also spend a great deal of time just observing my three children in sports, in play, in various activities around the house. As a people photographer who specializes in lifestyle, I gain a great deal of insight into those little snippets of life. And finally, laying on the floor, I will close my eyes while listen to a variety of instrumental music. Sometimes classical, other times various aboriginal music. I allow my mind to drift bringing up images from earlier years. These visualizations create great images in my mind which I try to bring to life in my stock photography. It sure works for me.

Q. What photographer or photographers most influenced you...
A. Boy, that's difficult to say. Honestly, I never was one to spend time studing the masters of the past. I certainly enjoy the work of Ansel Adams and Cartier and Benson; all quite diverse. But, probably I have been most impressed with the likes of deceased photojournalist W. Eugene Smith who's stark reality left no doubt about what he was photographing and why. And I admire celebrity photographer Annie Lebowitz, not so much for the celebrities themselves but the environments she places them in and how she manipulates and massages these people.

Q. What other career would you have chosen if not a photographer...
A. A farmer. I grew up on a farm; loved the farm. Everything about it. But I had terrible asthma since birth and by the time I was leaving high school, my doctor told me I had to leave the midwest or die young. Not much choice there. But I do return to my family farm each spring and autumn to help my brothers with planting and harvesting. I also take my children to the farm for a month each summer. I shoot a lot of stock photography when I'm back there, too. It's quite an ideal situation. I never complain.

Q. What's the best part of shooting stock...
A. The freedom of being my own boss. I have to plan, produce and execute each shoot. It's up to me to make good images which will sell or mediocre images which will just linger in the files and die.

Q. What's the worst part of shooting stock..
A. I dislike pre-production. I love to shoot, period. It's everything else that gets in the way. Finding the right clothing styles, colors, props. Lining up models. Ugh. But, in the end, when I'm viewing the transparencies on the light table, it's all worth it.

Q. If you had just one frame left in the world to shoot...
A. That's an easy one to answer. I'd photograph the smiling freckled face of my daughter, Erin. That one image would represent my life: the love of my family and photography. Simple.

Q. What would you like said about yourself...
A. Don had great friends and a wonderful family. And he enjoyed photography. That's all.

Don grew up on an Iowa family farm with five brothers. He liked to drive his brother David around in a tractor and wagon. David farms today. Don gave up the farm equipment for cameras.

Don will go to just about any length for his clients whether it's in the middle of a cold mountain lake or hanging out a helicopter door over the Grand Canyon.