Michael Steele, Owner & Head Photographer

Michael Steele, aka Tempest, is the owner and head photographer for Tempest Photo Group. Born & raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Michael was placed in to a photography class against his will his senior year in high school. It was one of those rare life moments when things just happen for a reason. This one moment has lead to so many others. He has worked for photographers in Corpus Christi and Bryan / College Station, absorbing many different aspects of the photography industry, from senior and corporate portraiture to large scale commercial projects. While working with the contracted sports photographer at Texas A&M, he also did some shooting for the Aggie Battallion newspaper,

Another one of those life moments came about when Selena Quintinilla-Perez was slain in Corpus Christi in 1996. Michael and a fellow student newspaper writer not only photographed and wrote about that fateful Friday, but also produced a 16 page newspaper in 3 days. About a year later after this incident, he lived & worked in Michigan for three years. Michael grew his design experience with various print and design projects involving the Big 3 automakers and other clients. Ever since, he has been working in the graphic arts field as a graphic designer while pursuing his sports photography career.

In 1998, Michael moved back to native soil of Texas and the city of Austin to continue his career. With family, marriage and a new child, Michael stopped shooting for a number of years. In 2006, Michael thought the time was right to begin rebuilding his business from the ground up. The company name "Tempest" comes from Michael's love of lightning and weather and from Shakespeare's "The Tempest", a story of a man who can mysteriously control the weather. If you are driving around Central Texas at night and see a crazy man in the back of his truck with a tripod, a camera and an umbrella... that's probably him.

Tempest Photo Group captures memories for many different media sources and schools. One of our clients is "PrepTicket.com". Prep Ticket is a social networking website for high school & college athletes to discuss all aspects of sports. Coaches, athletes and parents can all join for free to talk to other sports-minded individuals all over the country. Prepticket is a Texas -based company, so they do have a great deal of coverage around the state. Although they currently only cover Football and basketball, anyone can upload photos and videos to their site and share with friends, family and college recruits. Please visit their site.

During an earlier time in his life, ages 6 through 16, Michael played a variety of sports, especially soccer. He was also in band, played alto and baritone sax during his junior and senior high school days. The downside was his parents were not big picture takers. So there are only a hand full of photos and memories from all of those years. So when we say "Tempest Photo Group was born from an idea of capturing memories that would otherwise be lost", Michael speaks from personal experience. This is why we do it... it's about capturing memories.

"When I photograph a game, I always want to have that feeling of being a little kid when walking in to a sporting event...
the awe.. the crowd.. the noise... the feel of the grass, of the parque floor,
the feeling of them watching me while I am watching the game through my lens.
The perfection of creativity in capturing a moment in time, a fleeting thousandth of a second...
the physics involved between athlete & ball, camera & lens, and light reflecting off every surface at 186,00 miles a second,
all for my eyes to see. If I ever lose that feeling, please come take my camera away... for I will be dead and won't need it anymore."
- Michael Steele (2009)