Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Schneider.
Hi Robin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Currently I’m a photographer and artist. It seams you just can’t stop a creative mind. Twenty or more years ago I was painting little wooden Christmas ornaments and then airbrushing motorcycle helmets. For a while I custom painted women’s high heel shoes.i was hired to illustrate two children’s books by separate authors. I was doing all this while working as a computer geek in the corporate world.and then they found a tumor, stage 4, and as big as my fist. Treatment made me so weak I could not paint anymore. After a year I found the energy to go for a walk and I happened to pick up a camera. Boom! My creative was back and for the next dozen year I shot hundreds and hundreds of bands. Doesn’t pay well but it’s great advertising when they want wedding photos, senior pictures, or even simple headshots. Staying in the art fields was an easy choice after being freed from cubicle work. Got a job at the Fine Arts Center building sets for some amazing plays. In the mean time I was curating coffee shops with my photography and it wasn’t long before I started mixing other artist in on those walls. The Gallery Below was next and ran that place for a year winning almost every award this city had to give for galleries while also getting awards for my creative photography. Pretty soon it was time to see if I could do it again but this time for Art111, and you bet I did. More awards and few more pennies. I didn’t care, I was doing what I loved and working my way up.asked to be the manager and after that I took ownership, hosting some of the best art events in this city. But without a partner to back me during slow times like covid, I had to close. It was perfect timing because then I suffered through a series of strokes. Still kept doing photography all the way up til last year when me and my friend, a fellow photographer made a Music Video for Brandon Jordan’s song Cry Sober! Now 2026, recently deciding to jump back into the painting game and created a Rotary Club Flight Butterfly that will soon be on display and auction. Next is a Day of the Dead Project with leather and Faux flowers. And after that I’m going to work on a deer skull and a rams skull that I have laying around. This fall one of my concert photos is being used for the cover of a book written by Chris Dobry of Stryker Records! Oh and doing all this while working as a breakfast attendant at a beautiful hotel.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
First off, it’s just life. Money issues will always be there. Some of the richest people i know still have money issues. So get past that. The little art project that you want to do isn’t going to be the reason you get evicted. Buy the paints. Secondly is health. Im not one to talk but you are not going to live forever. So do what you love, do what makes you happy. I’ve cheated death a few times now but I challenge you to find a more genuine, happy person. Thirdly don’t listen, don’t follow. Sure go get training, or lessons but make it your own. Do what they showed you but find a way to do it better. You got this.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I like to dabble in all of it, paint, photography, former gallery owner, playing in my friends gardens or setting up spaces. It never stops. So yes im still shooting photography but not as many bands this year. I kinda wore myself out last year by shooting almost every show at one venue. That meant 2 or 3 times a week and 4-6 bands plus the little free time i had was spent editing thousands of photos and pushing social media. Almost never getting paid, but it was a blast. So ya now I’m getting back into paint like the porcelain butterfly I did for Flight or the Sugar Skull on leather. We have also created a wedding magazine to show off our wedding photography. I know I said “we” because Mandy Michelle Photography and myself have teamed up to create Smoke And Shutter Productions while we worked on the music video for Cry Sober and now I can’t imagine shooting anything without her help. It’s a great team and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I had a great time! Looking back I’d say that I’ve always been a creative person. A lille more mischievous than most of my friends but but always having fun. Raised in the city of Colorado Springs by my mom and step dad who were both farm kids when they grew up, so getting a little rowdy never bothered them much. I can remember one time when a park ranger was coming to reprimand us for water skiing shenanigans like spaying fishing boats with the wave from my waterski and my grandma came after him down the boat ramp saying “not my boys, they would never!”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://smokeshutter.myportfolio.com/home
- Instagram: ArtByBAMF (Robin Schneider)
- Facebook: Robin Schneider Professional Portraits
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SX8OHkCKBM8&is=m_A-WO0-P2tElpzA
Image Credits
Robin Schneider Professional Portraits, Mandy Michelle Photography, Smoke and shutter productions
