A Photographer’s Unique Path to Becoming a Boot Maker to the Stars

Photographer Marty Snortum was so enamored by the artistry of colorful boots that he started a company in El Paso, Texas that makes custom boots for an international clientele.

Prices start at $2,000 and reach $10,000 a pair. Customers include Sylvester Stallone, Kendrick Lamar, Jane Fonda, Shaboozey and other A-list cultural figures.

“We build snowflakes,” says Snortum. “Each pair of boots is unique.”

In El Paso, Snortum and spouse Nevena Christi operate Rocketbuster Handmade Custom Boots. The staff chart lists Snortum as “Founder/Photographer” and Christi as “Bosslady.”

Photography to Boots

Snortum participated in a graduate-level photo boot camp at Ohio University in 1980. After completing a news-photo internship in Charleston, West Virginia, Snortum moved to El Paso for studio work.

35 years ago, he bought a 1930’s Pueblo-Deco movie theater, converting it to live/work space.

“On the edge of Texas there lived a commercial photographer named Marty Snortum,” says Rocketbuster’s history posted online. “Marty was an eccentric guy who loved the craftsmanship of vintage objects. He collected vintage cars, jukeboxes, furniture and yes, even boots!”

“One of Marty’s favorite jobs was shooting (photos for) boot catalogs. He loved the colors and imaginative styles of the classic 1940’s vintage boots, and wondered why they stopped making them.”

So he set out to fill the void.

Virginia-born Snortum partnered with New York fashion designer Christi to make vintage-inspired colorful custom boots. In 1992, Snortum bought a former fur trappers’ warehouse in El Paso that houses Rocketbuster. Snortum and Christi were married in 1996. Click here to learn more about her story.

Currently, their team of artisans hand-crafts 350 pairs of boots a year.

“Bosslady” Nevena Christi and Founder/Photographer Marty Snortum at Rocketbuster

Global Reach

Rocketbuster has built a worldwide clientele. It shares the making of each specialized project on social media to show vintage techniques and artistry.

Vintage boot designs express clients’ passions, personality, art. Taylor Swift, says Snortum, got a pair of Rocketbuster boots when she was 16. He cites other examples of Rocketbuster boots on the world stage, worn by artists and celebrating sports and literature.

On January 21, six-time Grammy-nominated Shaboozey wore Rockebuster boots at the Grammy Awards Show.

Multi-Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar wore a pair of custom boots at a past Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Lamar performed the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on February 9.

Sylvester Stallone wore custom Rocketbuster boots at the Italian Grand Prix and in a photo layout for The Hollywood Reporter.

Jane Fonda wore custom New England Patriots boots in the comedy film “80 for Brady. In another sports-themed crossover, the Cleveland Cavaliers had custom boots made for winning the NBA title.

Custom boots were made for this stylized book cover for KJ Dell’Antonia’s ‘In Her Boots’

Comparing photography to boots, Snortum says photographers seek to master the contents created for “one side only… we don’t care about the back side of the picture.”

“Boots are three-dimensional,” says the photographer-turned-boot maker. “And then there’s the stitching, the design, the colors, the materials, and how it all goes together.”

Weaving together these two threads of his life, Snortum takes pictures of the boots.

About the author: Ken Klein lives in Silver Spring, Maryland; he is retired after a career in politics, lobbying, and media including The Associated Press and Gannett in Florida. Klein is an alumnus of Ohio University and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the Scripps College of Communication. Professionally, he has worked for Fort Myers News-Press (Gannett), The Associated Press (Tallahassee), Senator Bob Graham, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).