This month of June 2012 Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity focus on Green Bay, WI, professional photographer Mike Roemer (brother-in-law of our Sister Anne Turba). As St. Francis was awake to the wonder of creation, we invite you to enjoy Mike’s keen eye for detail, and possibly see the obvious with greater illumination.
About Mike Roemer
Mike Roemer of Mike Roemer Photography Inc. at work at an NFL football game provides the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity June images of the month.
Hi. My name is Mike Roemer and I’m a commercial and editorial photographer based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I travel around the U.S. for my clients and even outside of the country if needed, but that doesn’t happen nearly enough.
How it all began…
My interest in photography began while in high school. My dad was a photographer at the daily newspaper in Green Bay and came to my JV football games to take pictures. He would then hand over the film to me to process. Armed with contact sheets, I would return to school and selling 8 x 10s for a $1.00 to other players. When it came time for me to move up from JV football to Varsity, my love for making that buck per 8×10 was stronger than my football skills. So, I put down my football helmet and picked up one of my dad’s cameras.
As my high school career came to an end, my love for photography continued to grow. I was shooting any sporting event I could get to including some Green Bay Packers games. I messed around in the darkroom in our basement and was open to the constructive critiques my dad and other photographers gave me. I would also look forward to the monthly National Press Photographer magazine to show up in the mailbox.
When I headed off to college just across town, I had a very nicely equipped camera bag. I took any photography class I could, photographed any sporting event I could, sold the occasional photo to newspapers around Wisconsin and worked for the college newspaper. During my college career, I interned at newspapers like the Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel, The Door County Advocate and the Appleton Post Crescent. In 1986, I graduated with a communications degree and was ready to go out and start my career.
My first real job…
My first stop was a small newspaper in Aberdeen, South Dakota up near the North Dakota border with a circulation of 20,000. I was one of two photographers on staff and was responsible for general assignment photography. I still got to shoot sports, but that might be two or three basketballs games in one night. Not sure I saw an entire game in my 14 months in Aberdeen, but it was a great place to learn and grow.
In January of 1988, I got a job at the newspaper in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I stayed there until I didn’t see a long term future for me in the newspaper biz and my desire to go out on my own outgrew the comfort provided by a steady paycheck.
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In 1996 I moved back to Green Bay to start a new chapter in my life as a freelance photographer of editorial and commercial photography. Read more here.
