THREE WAYS TO TELL THIS STORY

The Local Photographer Who Wrote a Book
A Central New York photographer with deep roots in the Finger Lakes and Adirondacks — who taught photography through ENCORE in North Syracuse, exhibited at the Schweinfurth Art Center, and spent years with the CNY Photographers community — has published his first book. A Gentle Spirit Within is a spiritual memoir built from three decades behind a camera.

Retirement Done Differently
After a career in finance and accounting, Norman Schillawski didn’t slow down — he traded the office for an RV and hit the road full time. Now traveling the East Coast of America with a camera and a published memoir, he is proof that the most interesting chapters sometimes come last.

Faith Found on the Back Roads A Gentle Spirit Within is a rare kind of spiritual memoir — one built not around dramatic conversion but around thirty years of quiet discovery on America’s back roads, mountain trails, and shorelines. For readers of faith and seekers alike, it is a book about what happens when you finally slow down long enough to notice.

BIOS — READY TO USE

Short Bio (100 words)

Norman Schillawski is a landscape photographer, author, and full-time RVer traveling the East Coast of America. After a career in finance and accounting, he spent three decades on back roads and mountain trails with a camera — beginning with film and transitioning to digital — slowly discovering that the photographs were pointing him toward something larger than the image. His debut memoir, A Gentle Spirit Within, weaves personal essays with landscape photography to explore faith, stillness, and what it means to truly pay attention. He lives and travels full time in his RV.

Long Bio (250 words)

Norman Schillawski spent the first part of his career in the measured world of finance and accounting — a world of certainty, ledgers, and numbers that added up. But something underneath was restless. He picked up a film camera and pointed it at the world outside the office, and the discipline of the darkroom taught him a patience he hadn’t known he needed.

Over three decades — beginning with film and transitioning to digital — he drove back roads and climbed ridgelines across America. The Adirondacks and Finger Lakes of his Central New York roots. The desert canyons of West Texas. The cascading gorges of Watkins Glen. The salt marshes of the Georgia coast. He exhibited at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York, taught photography through ENCORE at North Syracuse, and was an active member of the CNY Photographers community for many years.Then came a moment driving south through Texas — a quiet conversation with God that had been a long time coming. What followed didn’t announce itself. It settled in — the kind of change that takes years to understand and a whole book to describe. That road became the seed of his debut memoir, A Gentle Spirit Within, a spiritual memoir woven together with landscape photography that explores what happens when you slow down long enough to notice what has always been there. Today Norman travels full time in an RV along the East Coast of America, still making photographs, still paying attention.

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. You spent decades in finance and accounting before becoming a photographer and author. What was the moment you realized the camera was more than a hobby?
2. You started with film and made the transition to digital. What did shooting on film teach you that you still carry with you today?
3. A Gentle Spirit Within isn’t a dramatic conversion story — it’s about slow, quiet change. Why did you want to write that kind of spiritual memoir instead?
4. Tell us about the moment driving south through Texas. What happened and why does it matter to the book?
5. How did the discipline of photography — waiting for light, being patient — shape your spiritual life?
6. You’re a full-time RVer now, traveling the East Coast. How has life on the road changed the way you see and photograph the world?
7. The photographs in this book aren’t just illustrations — they’re part of the story. How do you decide which image belongs with which reflection?
8. Who did you write this book for — who do you most hope finds it?
9. You’ve photographed places from the Adirondacks to the Gulf Coast. Is there one location that changed you more than the others?
10. What do you hope someone carries with them after reading A Gentle Spirit Within?