The Gift of Photography – Steve Bernstein

by Maura Lerner Fisher

When Shelley Christensen had her photo taken for work last year, it was something of a disaster.

“I had pneumonia the day it was taken,” she recalled. And the picture, she says with a laugh, was “horrible.”

Shelly Christensen

So Shelley, a longtime member of Bet Shalom, was intrigued when she was invited to take part in a one-day photo shoot at the synagogue in May. Steve Bernstein, another Bet Shalom member, had volunteered to take free headshot photos of over a dozen fellow congregants as part of a fledgling synagogue project.

When Shelley saw the finished product, she was truly taken aback. “There’s a twinkle in my eyes,” she said. “That’s what made this experience so unique. He's focused on discovering who that person is behind the smile. It really looks like me.”

Many people cringe at the thought of posing for a portrait. And with a camera in every pocket, we can always take selfies. But to Steve Bernstein, a physician who moonlights as a professional photographer, there’s a lot more to it than that.

He has spent years turning the simple headshot into a kind of art-form. In the photo studio of his Deephaven home, he typically spends hours with a single client, chatting, joking, trying to put his subject at ease, until he captures something special.

Now in his spare time he is trying to spread the joy of headshots by taking his camera to some unlikely places. He has set up mini-marathon sessions to take free portraits of nursing home residents and Wayzata police officers. And when Steve offered to do something similar at Bet Shalom, Rabbi Locketz was delighted.

One of his own long-term goals, the rabbi says, is to build an online photo directory of Bet Shalom families. And he saw this as a possible first step. In this case, Rabbi Locketz said, “We decided we would start small.” His office emailed invitations to members of a senior group to see if any were interested in having their photos taken. Ultimately, 18 people signed up for a series of 20-minute sessions in front of Steve’s camera in May.

Steve has been taking pictures, by his own estimate, for over 50 years — “since middle school.” In addition to practicing medicine (he’s a urologist at Fairview), he also built a thriving side-business as a sports photographer over the years. But he never really thought about headshots — the kind of close-ups that grace people’s resumes — until he met a mentor, a “high-end” photographer, who took a headshot of him and offered to teach him the ropes.

Yale Dolginow

Susan Druskin

“It’s a picture that changed my life,” he said. Steve started taking headshots professionally, and now corporate clients regularly seek him out.

The secret to great headshots, he says, is more than good lighting and equipment; it’s the time he spends interacting with his subjects. “I don’t photograph a pose,” he explains. “I photograph a reactive expression.”

Not everyone, of course, wants or needs a professional headshot. But at the synagogue and elsewhere, Steve sees it as a way to lift people’s spirits, and, in his own way, give something back to the community.

Rabbi Locketz said there’s no firm plan for another photo shoot, but he’s hoping that Steve might consider doing it again in the future. That is, if he can fit it into his busy schedule. Just this summer, at age 67, Steve became a reserve Wayzata police officer. And he has no plans to retire from his day job as a doctor. “I feel like I have more to give,” he said.