John Steck Jr. is one of the wonderful professors at the Center for Visual Arts. Last semester, I had the pleasure of taking one of his classes, Photographic Lighting Techniques. Whether you are already passionate about photography or are simply curious, his classes are a great way to get immersed in the world of photography. I asked him a few questions about himself and his love for photography.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What drew you to photography in the first place?
It’s been a long journey over the last 26-ish years. I went to a community college for a few years, and my goal was to earn a two-year associate degree so I could eventually transfer to a four-year institution. One of the requirements was to take an art class. I didn’t have an art background, so I ended up taking a dark room photography course. I took it because I thought it would be the easiest option—I wasn’t expecting anything to come from it other than just earning my credits. I quickly realized I was good at it. I wasn’t necessarily making great pictures, but my critiques were good, and my teachers liked the work. It was the first thing I had ever done that I was good at. I ended up taking all the photo classes there and eventually worked in the lab as an assistant for three years.
What drew you to teaching photography?
Since then, I’ve gone to three other schools—a photography certificate program school, undergrad (to finish my BFA), and then grad school for my master’s. Every school that I went to had different areas of photography. I lost interest in photojournalism and thought I wanted to do editorial because it seemed to have more of a creative vantage point. Then I realized one year into this two-year certificate program I was in that I just don’t like photographing people. That school was designed for editorial and fashion, but they had a small fine art niche. A year into that program, I realized I might be an artist. I like making work for myself. I like thinking abstractly.
I slowly started to dabble with the idea of teaching. I was teach-assisting a little bit, and that introduced me to that possibility. I loved working with students in that way, even though I was also a student. It felt rewarding, and so that began this journey of “Let’s finish my bachelor’s and master’s so I can teach.” In that process, I did a lot more teach-assisting and realized “Yeah, I think this is my path now.” It seemed like a perfect fit for being an artist. I could have my own artistic practice, I can teach, and those things can have a comfortable overlap but be separate when I need them to be. And that’s what led me here—many, many years later. It was a grueling process—I had to teach part time for eight years before I started teaching full time. Going into the teaching profession, I knew I would have to pay those dues. It took me a bit longer than my colleagues—I always get to everything much later than everyone else I know. I’ve grown to love and accept that.
Have you taught at other places before Hopkins? What brought you here?
I’ve taught at eight different institutions—somewhere around that number. Almost always, I was teaching in at least two schools at the same time as an adjunct. When COVID started, I ended up getting this job they called a “three-quarter time” job. I had full teaching responsibility, but I really had nothing else that I was responsible for; I didn’t have to go to meetings or talk about budget. That position led to me getting a position at Bradley University for a year, and it was there that I applied to Hopkins and a bunch of other places. I think having that full-time year under my belt led to me getting this job.
What do you love most about your job?
Being able to teach photography, especially in an artistic context. Students are taking those classes because they want to. Some of them are there because they want to make better art. I like that we’re all on this level playing field—we love taking pictures, so there’s generally good energy. Also, just talking about art is a lot of fun and to get to do that in a classroom context is really enjoyable.
I said it’s like a level playing field because even though I know the medium well and I can teach digital photography in my sleep, there’s always something I’m learning—whether it’s new settings on a camera or seeing new pictures every day. Sure, I’ve seen a bazillion portraits, but I’ve never seen this portrait. And now we’re having a unique conversation about this picture, and I’m learning about contemporary perspectives from my students. Sometimes a student has a question and I’m like, “You know what, I don’t know. But I’m going to find that out, and now we’re both going to learn this together.”
That’s a really great way to teach. Part of the reason your class was so fun and memorable was we could all tell you loved it, and you were also so open to us trying things that were untraditional. You were willing to experiment, and that made it really fun.
Yeah, it’s very obvious when an instructor loves what they do. What fun would it be to share this information deadpan? If I don’t have the passion for it, how can I expect my students to have passion for it? That energy is important to me. A lot of people are taking classes with us because it’s an outlet they have from the rigorous program here. I also know it’s an environment that’s important to them, so let’s make this the most comfortable atmosphere we can.
What advice would you give a Hopkins student that was interested in your classes?
Come into our classes with an open mind. Yes, we have a syllabus, and it says certain things we’re going to do. We will hopefully do all those but know that we’re going to do things beyond that. And also, feel open to requesting; it’s the student’s class, and I want to be able to offer them other things. If we need to experiment or derail and it’s clear that everyone wants that, why would I not allow that? So, I would encourage students to not only be open-minded, but to let me know when they need something different, or for me to offer the same information in a different manner.
When I first approached you about doing this interview, you mentioned you developed a lot of the classes you teach. Can you talk more about that?
Part of the reason I was brought in for this position was because I have both analog—like a film-based practice—and an experimental photography practice. One of the visions of our chair was to bring in more of an analogue, hands-on approach to photography. Hopkins used to have a dark room before I came in, but for the last five or ten years, it’s been a strictly digital photography program. We are still heavily digital, but I was brought in to bridge the gap between the other art classes and the photography program—in particular, with experimental photographic processes and how that can be more tied to painting and printmaking. When I taught my first semester, I quickly started thinking, “What other classes would work in this curriculum based on the students?”
Every year we get this large group of students that come to the Center for Visual Arts with Nicoleen Wilson. It’s part of a pre-orientation for incoming first-year students where they go to a bunch of different art places throughout Baltimore just before classes start. Fifty new students came in and I was telling them about our current classes, and also that I was eventually hoping to have a film photography class. After that, the chair of our program was like, “Oh, I really like that idea you had. Let’s do it.” It happened so quickly. One thing I love about Hopkins is it’s a lot easier for us to propose classes and make it happen in a timely manner. We literally offered it the next semester, and it’s been one of our most popular classes.
I designed the experimental photography class, not only based on my practice, but also on how that could fit into our overall curriculum and what did I think the students would like learning in that process. From that, I designed the lighting class for students that already feel comfortable with composition in the camera and wanted to learn something more technical but also creative and artistic.
I developed a Smartphone Photography class. I like that we can have a photo class that seems much more approachable. I like the idea of us having a class where you don’t need an additional camera. I’m trying to work with our program to have something for everyone. I have to navigate the ebb and flow of student interests because one year a class is popular and the next year, there may be low registration.
Are there any classes you’re hoping to develop for the future?
There’s one I would love to teach and one I think someone else should teach.
I’ve always wanted to teach a class about working with archival imagery. I sometimes assign a project called “Raiding the Archives” in an advanced-level course. It centers on found photographs—searching the internet for photographs, using library archives, family photo albums—there’s many different types of archives. The class would be about different ways of repurposing previous, existing images and how to bring them back to life, and how to have a dialogue with history.
The working title I have for the other class is “Machine-Generated Images.” I want to do something that is not necessarily tied to AI but maybe surveillance cameras or drones—different types of images that are made by a machine or technology. There’s a lot of images that are made that we don’t have control over. I don’t know a lot about that or use that in my own practice, hence why I think someone else should teach that. Now, more than ever, I just think it’s a relevant topic.
Do you have any final things you would like to say to prospective students?
I think just have an open mind to the broader realm of photography. We get students who are much more interested in technique, and sometimes they seem deterred by some of the more conceptual-based projects. There’s still a lot to learn from it, so I would say be open to projects that seem awkward or uncomfortable at times or maybe go beyond your interest in photography. Even though you may not like the prompt, you’re still going to learn about composition through it. Lighting, technique—those things still come into play.