Artist. Software Engineer. Innovator.

Eric Burke is a photographic artist located in Rockford, MI. His work is a blend of social commentary, fine art nude, light projection, and experimental techniques.

As a software engineer in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Eric wrote and published three programming books with O’Reilly Media. Eric joined Square in 2010, where he co-created Square’s first Point of Sale application for Android phones, inventing a new algorithm for decoding credit card magnetic stripe data. He went on to lead Square’s growing mobile application development teams as an engineering manager in San Francisco before retiring in 2016.

As a fine art photographer, Eric taught photography classes at the renowned Shutterfest conference in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Known for light projection photography in particular, Eric pioneered many projection-related techniques, creating a free application called Projection Studio for Web to streamline projection photoshoots. His work is opinionated and bold. Stylistically, his images feature high-contrast black and white or are more cinematic with bright, saturated colors. His subjects do not “pose” for the camera; it’s more akin to acting out emotions and stories.