Schafer Gray sees systems a little differently than most people.

Long before he was writing production code at Rocket, he was learning how light works. About eleven years ago, while working as an anesthesia technician in Atlanta, he spent long stretches commuting between Mableton, downtown and Kennesaw for night classes. Photography began as a way to fill that space.

“I had a lot of drive time and downtime,” Schafer recalled. “So I started digging into how photography actually worked.”

He picked up a Nokia Lumia 1020, one of the first phones that allowed full manual control of shutter speed, aperture and ISO, and began teaching himself what those settings really meant. He wasn’t just taking pictures. He was learning how to control variables.

Eventually that curiosity led to his first DSLR, a Canon EOS 60D purchased from a friend who shot weddings. Portraits became his focus. He was drawn to expression, framing and the subtle adjustments that change how someone is seen.

Before the pandemic, he leaned into it as a serious side hustle, building an Instagram presence, taking on headshots and family sessions and shooting marketing photos and album art for his wife, a professional musician.

“I decided to treat it like a real second job,” Schafer explained. “I had rent, a car payment, student loans — it was a way to create some breathing room.”

It supplemented his income and even helped him pay off his car.

“It wasn’t life-changing money,” he added with a laugh, “but it made things lighter.”

That discipline runs parallel to the rest of his story.

Schafer’s path into software was not conventional. He studied religion at the University of Georgia, then spent eight years in medicine … first in the operating room as an anesthesia technician, then in interventional cardiology at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. When the pandemic hit, he made a clear decision: he had reached the ceiling in that path.

“I realized I wasn’t going to grow much further where I was,” he said. “So I started teaching myself to code at night.”

Self-taught, with no bootcamp and no computer science degree, he spent evenings and weekends learning. A tech support role transitioned into development. A layoff forced him back into focused study. When he interviewed at Rocket, he was straightforward about his strengths and gaps.

“In this field, it becomes obvious pretty quickly what you know,” Schafer noted. “So I just told the truth.”

He passed the skill tests and, once he arrived, felt his capabilities accelerate. At Rocket, that means wearing every hat; front end, back end, data, cloud and AI—and navigating the full system.

But photography never disappeared. One of his favorite memories is capturing his wife at a baby grand piano in Hilton Head, framed by a bay window overlooking the marsh at sunset. The water caught the light just before blue hour and reflected like scattered diamonds. He got the picture on his camera, but the image is burned into his mind forever.

“I remember thinking, this is one of those moments you can’t manufacture,” Schafer reflected.

Lately he has returned to something simpler: street photography on his phone.

“The best camera is the one you have with you,” he emphasized. “I can sit in Marietta Square, stay low-key and just capture what’s happening.”

Whether adjusting exposure in a portrait or refactoring a database query, Schafer approaches the work the same way: understand the mechanics, observe patiently and execute deliberately when the moment is right.

The lens changed. The mindset did not.

To see more of Schafer’s work — or to book a session — follow him on Instagram at @SG_Photography_GA.