Award winning!
Vermont Photo Tours was named one of the “14 Can’t-Miss Places to Visit in Vermont” by NECN!
“I simply can’t imagine a better way to see Vermont, to explore hidden corners and appreciate its vast beauty and capture these precious moments forever. Photography is, at its heart, a very personal way of connecting authentically with the beauty around you. My goal is to bring our guests a highly rewarding experience. I personally plan each of our workshops/tours, so all of our guests fully experience the highly personal satisfaction of discovering and capturing the awesomeness of Vermont.” – Steve Mermelstein
Your guide, Steve Mermelstein, is a photography workshop instructor, award-winning commercial, event, and aerial photographer, naturalist, birder and nature lover based in South Burlington, Vermont.
Steve was hooked on photography as a young child. One day his mother placed her camera next to him in his stroller. Steve instinctually knew how to turn it on, and how to compose the photos and he would only give the camera back to his mom so she could put in a new roll of film.
By the fifth grade, Steve started developing his own film and printing in a wet darkroom he set up in a spare bathroom.
In middle and high school Steve was the primary photographer for his school’s yearbook and newspaper. As a high school freshman, Steve landed his first paying photography job. By the time he graduated high school, Steve already had his own studio with a color and black and white lab and worked as a commercial and event photographer throughout college.
Steve and his family vacationed in Stowe, Vermont throughout the year, every year, since he was born. After college, Steve took a brief break from photography and moved to Vermont. He quickly found it hard to resist the call to photograph the natural beauty everywhere he looked in Vermont and started to pick up his camera again.
By 2002, Steve was living and breathing photography again and purchased his first Digital SLR.
Since he spent ALL of his free time shooting landscapes and wildlife across New England but mainly in Vermont. Steve has visited all of Vermont’s 251 towns and cities and explored nearly every road and back road across the state. He knows all of Vermont’s best-kept secrets.
Steve’s work has been licensed to newspapers, magazines, publishers, small businesses, large corporations, and nonprofits and has also been published in books, brochures, advertisements, websites, corporate materials, and corporate reports.
In 2013 and 2014, Samsung USA named Steve one of the Top 50 US Photographers and contracted him as a Photographer.
Steve can teach you what to look for in order to make a great photograph. He can answer all your photography, gear, and workflow questions. He’ll give you helpful tips and advice so you’ll learn how to make the images you pre-visualize and dream of.
All of Steve’s Images and Videos on this site are available for purchase or license. Steve also has an extensive Image and Video collection of iconic Vermont and New England landscapes, people, places, and wildlife, in every season. Please contact us for exclusive or nonexclusive licensing terms and/or purchase information. We also welcome inquiries for images or videos of specific places and wildlife in Vermont or New England.