by Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Loan officers are artists at their trade and here’s one who’s an artist with a camera: Donald Ster, a senior home mortgage consultant with Wells Fargo.
“I have an artistic background through my family,” said Ster. “My mom is an oil painter and does a lot of ceramics. She is a great artist and is really talented. My little sister was a ceramics major at University of Florida and my older sister owns a clothing boutique in Venice Beach, Calif. I have my dad’s engineering background in me and a little bit of this artistic bend.”
Photography is Ster’s artistic outlet. He has always loved magazines and visual image. He likes taking photos of things he is passionate about such as his daughter, surfing and skateboarding.
He also takes photos for the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s Sales and Marketing Council meetings and you’ll see him there, camera in hand.
“I think I’m just a visual person,” he said. “To this day when I get the surfing magazines in the mail I pour over them. I have always been attracted to great photos. I always took pictures with my point and shoot. In college I was the one who always took photos and made sure we documented everything. I have boxes and boxes of photos I need to scan.”
Ster took a black and white photography class while getting his MBA where they had to develop their own film. That is when he said he fell in love with the art of photography.
“I learned the basics of photography and last summer I took a few classes at Florida State College at Jacksonville and I bought a Nikon D40 to capture these images of my daughter,” he said. “I know my way around a camera and I love doing it.
“It’s an artistic outlet for me. I have this creative urge in me and this is my way instead of painting or sculpting. It’s a way to get that visual image to come to life with proper lighting, shutter speed and exposure. That is the fun creative struggle to make it happen. When you combine all those elements that’s when you can really try to manipulate the shot.”
Catching a moment in a photograph is a thrill for him.
“I think film is a little more exciting because you don’t know the results until later, but there is nothing better than a great picture,” said Ster. “You are always striving to improve on that. Time is so fleeting and I love how the visual image just captures the moment. It’s timeless.”
His next step is to get a waterproof cover for his camera, so he can get in the water and take photos of surfers in action. His dream one day would be to be a professional photographer, but he wants to get a few more years of experience and knowledge under his belt before he takes that leap.
“I’m really passionate about music and surfing,” said Ster. “I grew up at the beach. I’d love to be a photographer for a big music or surfing magazine. I really absolutely love it.”