On a hot, dry late spring morning more than 30 years ago, the man known as SLV Steve – now capturing San Lorenzo Valley life through stunning photography –began his life’s journey.
It was June, 9, 1986, when something felt amiss when he awoke in his parent’s home, known as Meadowood in Boulder Creek. It was finals week for SLV High School freshman so he dreaded school. But it was more than that. He hadn’t slept well and had a feeling of trepidation.
That morning, around 10:30, billows of smoke rose that could be seen from as far away as Scotts Valley. Meadowood, the home SLV Steve’s father had built in 1973, burned to the ground, leaving nothing but 25 charred acres. The cause of the house fire was never identified.
“People got hurt, there never seemed to be enough water and quite a few animals died,” he remembered in his blog. “The entire home and surrounding buildings were destroyed.”
Watching the teams of firemen try to save his home propelled SLV Steve (real name Steve Kuehl), to dream of joining the Boulder Creek Fire Department. Never mind that he was only a little over 14.
He spent the next 18 months getting to know local fire fighters and interviewing for a program that, at the time, allowed 16-year-olds to intern at the department. He became a fire fighter at 18. After graduating high school in 1989, Kuehl joined the force. He would retire after 20 years of volunteer service.
“That’s why I got in the fire department,” he said of the seminal event. “I haven’t looked back since.”
But perhaps just as important was the gift of a camera when he graduated high school that same year, a step up from borrowing his grandfather’s old Hasselblad camera, with which he had taken pictures since he was 10.
Kuehl chronicled dramatic fire calls through photography, and later wrote a history book of the Boulder Creek Fire Department that can be viewed at the San Lorenzo Valley Museum. “History has always been important to me,” said Kuehl, who has two children, Blake and Tianna, currently attending SLV High School.
After leaving the department, Kuehl continued archiving life in the San Lorenzo Valley. Using three phone apps, a police scanner and radio, he snaps true-to-life photos of emergency rescues, fires, nature and colorful personalities. “I’m not trying to make a living,” he said. “I do this for the community. I feel the events that happen should be in pictures.”
What separates SLV Steve’s work from others is context. “Anyone can take a picture of scenery,” he said. “Context is when local people can see the picture and figure out where it was taken.”
Kuehl’s striking photos can often be seen in the Press Banner and Santa Cruz Sentinel.
In the midst of his tenure at the Boulder Creek Fire Department, Kuehl took his love for film and created SLV Video, a video rental and repair store on Highway 9 in downtown Ben Lomond. The small video store housed 34,000 titles and became a flashpoint for movie lovers in the Valley.
After 10 years, SLV Video closed in 2011 because conditions in the video rental market had changed radically. “It was lots of fun. I got to know thousands of people,” he said. “I still see former customers on the street.”
Kuehl’s perspective on life and photography changed three years ago when he contracted Bell’s Palsy, a paralysis of the muscles on the side of the face. “I couldn’t close both eyes,” he said of the disease that still slightly lingers today. “I had to put a bigger burden of trust on my equipment. I can’t rely on myself.”
In addition to capturing life in the San Lorenzo Valley through pictures, Kuehl works as a machine operator at Bay Photo Lab. “Bay Photo has been a great avenue,” he said. “I get to see work from all over the world.”
SLV Steve’s work can be seen from noon to 9 p.m., Friday, May 5, at the Boulder Creek Brewery Outpost, 13101 Highway 9. The showing will include nature, local events and several themed shoots including the Sage gallery (dog rescue).
