Stephen Strom graduated from Harvard College and also received his master's and Ph.D. in astronomy from Harvard University. From 1964 until his retirement in 2007, Strom has held appointments at Harvard, SUNY Stony Brook, UMass, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. His research contributions focus on developing an understanding of how stars and planetary systems form. Stephen began photographing in 1978. His work, largely interpretations of landscapes, has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and is held in several permanent collections including the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, the University of Oklahoma Art Museum, the Mead Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. His photography complements poems and essays in three books published by the University of Arizona Press: Secrets from the Center of the World, a collaboration with Muscogee poet Joy Harjo; Sonoita Plain: Views of a Southwestern Grassland, a collaboration with ecologists Jane and Carl Bock; and Tseyi' (Deep in the Rock): Reflections on Canyon de Chelly co-authored with Navajo poet Laura Tohe. His other books are Otero Mesa: America's Wildest Grassland, with Gregory McNamee and Stephen Capra, University of New Mexico Press (2008) and a monograph comprising 43 images, Earth Forms, was published in 2009 by Dewi Lewis Publishing.