Ironside Photography

05/15/2026

A long overdue post with some photos of my photos hanging in rooms at in — the most beautiful (and expensive!) hotel in . This was a huge project and the largest sale I’ve made of personal work in my career. 142 rooms, each with a 35x49”ish framed print hanging over the bed. Images of my beloved Ozarks. A lot of work to coordinate and turn into reality, but I’m proud to call it a win. And, an honor to be hung next to the watercolor work of William McNamara. Huge thanks to all involved in making this project happen and for the universe reminding me I can write off the costs of my backpacking trips. 📸🌄

04/29/2026

A rare morning in a new place with some rare April finds. A nesting turkey with 13 eggs; two snails slowly mating; a beautiful creek hike all to ourselves. No tripod and all the green. 🌱💦 //

12/10/2025

The Compton Hotel in Bentonville is now open, so I have a fairly personally important update. Recorded in September on a trip to Minnesota. Cut down to 3min to fit into a reel and spare you my extra “ums” or a chipmunk voice. //

09/03/2025

Well, I guess it was bound to happen sometime.

K I N D E R G A R T E N

Here we go.

05/09/2025

Hey ,

A few people have sent me LinkedIn 'congratulations' messages about my work anniversary. Usually I brush those off. But this one feels (slightly) different. FIFTEEN YEARS!

Fifteen years ago in April, I marched down to the county courthouse and filed for my first sole proprietor certificate. Opened the "business." I was just about to graduate from college. I still had an honors thesis about a neotropical ant-plant mutualism to write. I had no idea what I was doing.

After graduation, I dove in head on. I didn't really make any money for a few years. Luckily, I had family support to buy myself some time, and for that I'm very grateful. I had to teach myself everything about photography and running a business. I wouldn't trade my biology/anthropology degree for anything, but a marketing class or two might've been smart.

Photography has now been my full time income for over fifteen years. (Though people still ask me, "Is this your only job?")

I'm grateful to have had not one but hundreds of "bosses," no true "coworkers" but plenty of colleagues and collaborators and peers, the chance to adventure around the world -- some of it for pay -- and to get to call myself a professional photographer and really mean both of the words. I can support my family, can save for retirement, can take (almost) as many days off a year as I need. I made it through COVID unscathed and stronger by expanding into video. Not all photographers (or creatives in general) survived that time.

This is a long post to say: thank you to everyone who has believed in me, helped me, coached me, forgiven me, and paid me along the way.

Here's some photos I found of me over the years doing what I love while losing a little more hair each day.

xoxo,

Stephen

P.S. -- New commercial work page at Iron Lotus Creative, if you haven't jumped over already!

12/04/2024

I'm not often on the other side of the camera. Here's one.

If you love tall mountains genuine people, consider supporting our tiny nonprofit, Himalayan Village Fund.

Introducing board member Stephen Ironside (Ironside Photography)

Stephen joined the HVF board in 2018. He is a professional photographer and videographer focusing on commercial, travel, and non-profit work. A native of Fayetteville and University of Arkansas honors graduate, he loves Indian food, Nepali mountains, and Tibetan smiles. Stephen lived in India and Nepal in 2008 and has returned multiple times since.

06/20/2024

Today is World Refugee Day. We've got a great, great non-profit here called Canopy NWA that is doing important work for these humans, and a while back I did a little video through my commercial brand Iron Lotus Creative about them ... for, of all clients, a salsa company.

Follow me over there at ILC -- we've got a lot of catching up to do -- and you can watch the video here!

We made a video about Canopy NWA for FoodStory Brands and their Salsabrate the Good campaign.

04/09/2024

Obligatory eclipse post.

I made a conscious decision to enjoy the experience with my family rather than "be a photographer." I didn't get a giant lens, I didn't buy a solar filter, I didn't bring a tripod, I didn't spend a lot of time planning the perfect shot, I didn't get a video of totality in 8K raw.

I knew that my four-year-old will be 25 when the next eclipse happens over Arkansas, and that, most likely, I won't get to enjoy it with him. There are a million cool eclipse photos to see, and it felt more important to me to be present to hear him talk about the mayapples and phlox and Jacob's ladder and wild irises and trillium and and and and and.

We got to watch the moon eat the sun in a dry creek bed in one of my favorite parts of the world, just the three of us.

03/18/2024

Come! (And have you followed me at Iron Lotus Creative yet?)

This month we'll be at Iron Lotus Creative's awesome new studio (2175 N. Stone Chapel Lane, Unit A, Fayetteville, AR 72704)! Despite the address, don't tu...

03/07/2024

Hi !

It's been a minute. I've been incredibly busy putting energy into my new brand Iron Lotus Creative. Hop over there, give a Like, and follow along with what I'm doing in the commercial photo/video world!