Steve Gallagher

Steve Gallagher is a Sussex-based fine art photographer, originally from Iowa in the American Midwest. He earned a Fine Arts degree in Visual Design and Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked as an editorial fashion photographer in Chicago, Miami and New York before moving into advertising and digital design. In 2019, Steve and his family settled in Worthing, West Sussex. The Sussex Downs, shoreline and sea rekindled his love of photography. Working from a home studio, he began to focus on floral portraits and seascapes. The Covid-19 pandemic gave him time to refine his practice, leading to the carefully composed images that define his work today. Characterised by close observation and detail, Steve’s photographs explore contrasting moods: the drama and shifting light of the sea, and the fragile stillness of a single bloom. His compositions are calm but richly textured, drawing out depth in large-scale works. Although his practice has moved from portraiture towards nature, the influence of Irving Penn, Nick Knight, Robert Mapplethorpe and J.M.W. Turner remains visible in his approach to form, light and composition. More recently, Steve has created 3D lenticular prints and works on glass, aluminium and cloth, extending his interest in surface, depth and perception. His work is held in private collections across the UK, USA and Australia. In 2026, his photographs were exhibited in Sussex, London and the USA, including at The Other Art Fair.