Co-Director / Producer, Cinematographer
Stephanie Book - Bio (2008)
    A photographer, whose nearly a decade of work, whether artistic, commercial or editorial, concentrates on people and culture, Stephanie will make her documentary debut with "Lion in the Street."
    Stephanie met Allison Smith in 2003, after which the pair embarked on a journey together as Red Couch Productions to direct and produce the independent documentary "Lion in the Street." For Stephanie, the project was the perfect fusion of her education, experience and interests, and she became inspired by the social impact a story like that of their documentary subject, paralyzed wildlife-photographer David Farber, could stimulate as told through cinematography.
    While completing her coursework in Photography and Journalism at Carroll College in Waukesha, WI, Stephanie was hired in 1999 as a freelance photographer and writer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She feels her experiences at that paper gave her the foundation that has since consistently brought her work back to the exceptionality and commonality of human life.
    After receiving her B.S., Stephanie traveled the country for several months, chronicling through photographs and journals the vast and peaceful, yet ever-changing terrain, and experiences within small-town America. She is now tending these and other works toward photographic stock portfolios.
    Stephanie relocated in 2001 to Dallas, where for two years she was a full-time reporter for the Dallas-Fort Worth Star News. There, she covered Denton County courts and helped make a name for the paper as having the most complete coverage of that county's mass transportation plan, but most loved writing regular in-depth features on the extraordinary personalities in those communities.
    As an artist, Stephanie opened her first solo-show in 2001, with her photographic series Colors of the Spirit and Wisconsin’s Waukesha Civic Theatre season. Among various anthologies and publications, her work was published on the cover of the May 2001 edition of Photographers' Forum Magazine, and she has contributed to group exhibitions, auctions and publications in Chicago, Milwaukee and Dallas.
    A native of the Chicago area, Stephanie returned in 2003 and continues to work as a portrait, commercial, stock and editorial photographer, while having also done work in agency advertising and internal marketing communication for the Chicago Public Schools. She also still purses her art work with galleries and exhibitions. Stephanie is a member of the American Child Photographer’s Charity Guild. Samples of her work can be seen at www.stephaniebookphotograpy.com.