John S. Stewart was born in Springfield, Missouri, where he was woven into a traditional middle-class Midwestern lifestyle. He attended public school and enjoyed typical summer activities like baseball, swimming, mowing lawns for spending money, and summer camp.He also enjoyed magazines that were in the Stewart house, like "Life", "Look", and "National Geographic" that profiled events and cultures from faraway lands and lifestyles closer to home. This is what interested him.He studied biology and environmental science at Drury College, then earned a journalism degree focused on photojournalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He began his career by taking freelance photos for local papers, a city magazine, and groups that wanted a photojournalistic look. He worked briefly from 1976 to 1978 on two community newspapers in the Ozarks, The Salem News, and The Lebanon Daily Record, He has focused on the Ozarks, aside from two assignments in Central America, because he believes compelling story visuals are accessible locally and are best conveyed by residents who know the area. Working in an area within 100 miles from his home in Springfield, Missouri, his photography assignments came from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Kansas City Star, The Chicago Tribune, The Toronto Star, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, The Village Voice, The Associated Press, USA Today, and more. Travel and lifestyle assignments include many of the above metropolitan newspapers as well as local and regional travel magazines. He continues to live a quiet, ordinary life in the Ozarks with his wife and son.