Written by Taryn Brooks

The backdoor of a well-loved white van swings open with a squeak, revealing a fully functional darkroom that transforms tin plates into photographs. Upon closer look a collection of instruments inhabits the corners, mirroring how the two devotions appear in the life of photojournalist and musician Bill Steber. 

Steber describes his job title as a “chief cook and bottle washer at preserving the old weird America,” a culinary term meaning his responsibilities in his field rank from high to low and everywhere in between, illustrating the journey his professional career has taken. 

Along with strumming to an array of instruments and joining friend Sam Baker in the HooDoo men, Steber also spent 15 years as a photojournalist for the Tennessean and embarked on a documentary journey through the Mississippi’s Blues Trail. Photography and music have been life-long passions of Steber’s, both of which were born out of a love for illustrating modern times through a historical lens.

“Most of my life has been dedicated to preserving and living in those marginal spaces of American culture,” Steber said.

Throughout Steber’s preservation journey, a revelation that has held true far into the younger generation is that in the wake of a new digital age, people are left longing for “something that has a little dirt on it,” or a physical and untamed version of art. 

“Because as human beings, we’re not perfect digital creations, we are deeply flawed individuals and our humanity is what makes us beautiful, so that’s the thing I’ve always been attracted to,” Steber said.

Photography and music reside neighborly in Steber’s life and share qualities that drew him to their basic concepts. Mathematics and patterns are prevalent in both disciplines but what fascinates Steber the most is limitations. He shares that one of his personal limitations is being “paralyzed by the blank page,” which is what led him to compose pictures with a camera rather than a paintbrush. While the infinite choices of other art forms liberate certain artists, Steber finds the confines of capturing the world within a single frame in still photography alluring. 

Though both passions creatively co-exist in Steber’s world, he admits that “music is always first with everything.” With his synesthetic musical ear inspiring everything around him, a music box permanently inhabits his mind. 

“Whether I like it or not there’s always a song playing in my brain,” Steber said. 

Although his grandmother’s piano was his first teacher in finding melodies and deciphering between notes, the first instrument Steber truly played was the dulcimer. During a trip to Pigeon Forge, 12-year-old Steber walked into Tut Taylor’s instrument shop and became enchanted by the dulcimer Taylor was strumming. After observing his hand movements throughout a song, Steber quickly saw the comparison of the piano, took the instrument into his own hands, and played it right back. It was at this moment a love of string instruments sprouted in Steber.

“So that started with my string band fascination and from there I just added instruments,” Steber said. 

Just before his musical talents bloomed, Steber’s love for photography began in elementary school and was motivated by his father when he lent him a camera for a school trip, and later gifted him a Canon. His father didn’t coddle him through the learning process though, as Steber lightheartedly remembers being “thrown into it.”

Even though his adoration continued throughout his time working for his high school’s newspaper, photography wasn’t more than a hobby until college. It was there he fell in love with the art through the work of documentary photographers such as Garry Winogrand and Diane Arbus, who taught him an entirely new way to use a camera. 

“I was a duck that found my pond at that point,” Steber said. 

At that stage in his life, Steber wanted nothing more than to be a street photographer. But after quickly realizing that he couldn’t financially provide for himself under that title, he made his way into the photojournalism scene. With no official experiential course under his belt, Steber began his career as a freelance photographer for the Tennessean. 

After years of following inspirations like Eugene Richards who made “very complex compositions with a lot of moving parts,” Steber decided it was time to slow down, which led to the purchase of a Hasselblad camera. 

As Steber continued to conquer older, time-consuming techniques and equipment, he decided to try his hand at an aged, traditional photo printing process: wet plate, otherwise known as tintype photography. This type of photography allows Steber to blend a historical feel with today’s society. 

“What I love is that mash-up of old photography and modern life and to see how each of them speaks to the other,” Steber said. 

What has truly showcased the conjunction of Steber’s two passions has been his documentary work in Mississippi. Steber has dedicated over 30 years down in the deep South capturing not only Blues music itself but also the traditions that gave life to it and continue to keep it alive. Steber holds the moments he’s been privileged to be a part of close to his heart. 

“When you deeply embed yourself in a community doing work that you feel is extremely important, I mean it gives meaning to your life aside from any value that other people might put on the thing that you create. It’s almost like a drug in and of itself,” Steber said.

Though Steber has gone on separate journeys for each discipline and has a unique love for both, they inevitably meet at a crossroads: a dedication to conserve the traditions that gave way to what we know of these crafts today. 

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