Local Photographer’s Works Reside in the Smithsonian
Stephen Somerstein has had several lifetimes worth of achievements so far in his 81 years. Almost as amazing as his photos in the Smithsonian, his Emmy Award or his career as an aerospace engineer is how Somerstein can recall and recount his experiences in explicit detail.
You might have seen Somerstein around the Richmond District. He is a few inches taller than 5 feet tall, he has a unique professorial look with gray hair (not as much on top as on the back of his head), a gray beard and mustache and a twinkle in his eyes that reveal his everlasting curiosity about the world around him.
His appearance does not tell the full story of his life, which he tells with seemingly boundless energy, eager to share his fascinating experiences and his many passions. He still a powerhouse in his early 80s. These passions have brought him from New York City to the streets of Montgomery, Alabama in the mid-1960s during the civil rights movement (and an eventual Emmy Award), to the deserts of New Mexico to test satellites as an aerospace engineer, to the company of Elton John and a photograph auctioned for $225,000, and finally to San Francisco’s Richmond District with a rejuvenated photography career.
