In college, looking for something creative to do, Schermeister picked up a camera and started to observe people around him by working for the school newspaper. He quickly became immersed, fascinated by capturing people's emotions and personalities. By his senior year, he had enough experience and talent to win the National Press Photographer's College Photographer of the Year award. After photographing the Republican National Convention that year, he was hired as a staff photographer by the Topeka Capital-Journal, one of the outstanding photo-driven newspapers of the day. "The range of assignments we did on a regular basis was amazing. We might shoot a story on the homeless, a high school basketball game and a dinner at the Governor's mansion all in one day," says Schermeister.

Armed with his portfolio and yearing to shoot in color, he moved to San Francisco five years later and started magazine and corporate freelancing. Landing his first assignment with National Geographic on San Francisco's Chinatown, he started a 15 year stint with the Society, crisscrossing North America on assignments ranging from Mexico's Tarahumara Indians to New England's Connecticut River. "Shooting for National Geographic taught me how to combine my skills photographing people with location shooting in any type of situation," says Schermeister.

Since moving to California's Sierra Nevada foothills and starting a family, Schermeister has turned his attention to corporate and advertising photography where he works for a variety of clients on location around California and the U.S.