Artist's Statement

contact: bobhowephotography@att.net

A friend in junior high school got me interested in the medium of photography back in ninety-fifty something. After acquiring a decent folding camera and a crude darkroom in the basement of my house in Rhode Island I was on my way into the world of creating images with my eye. It was then the golden age of black and white. I learned by studying images taken by the heavyweights of the day: Eisenstadt, Steichen,Weston and more. A lot of the stuff I tried was what I call street photography. After getting a driver's license, a whole new world opened up and I started shooting landscapes and trees and flowers and animals.

I became yearbook photographer in high school, selling many of my natural light photos of teachers and classmates for the candid pages. By that time I had acquired a Praktiflex single lens reflex with a waist level finder made in East Germany. Later, using money from mowing lawns and doing some portrait work, I purchased a twin lens Rolleiflex medium format camera.

A couple of years after starting a career in engineering, I resumed my interest in photography. I dusted off my cameras and began taking color slides during our travels in California and the west. A few years later I switched to using 35mm single reflex cameras because of their versatility. During the 70's and 80's my wife and I made frequent trips into Baja and that would be the subject of many of my photographs for years. Again, I learned (and still am) by studying great images from the masters trying to understand what made their photographs so outstanding. Hopefully I improve every time out in the field with my camera.

My primary interest lies in broad view landscapes and close-ups of natural objects. To that end, my wife and I spend two to three months each year on road trips throughout the United States and Canada. Our form of travel has the advantage for doing photography not only at a destination but enroute as well. One never knows whether the perfect scene with perfect light may be around the next bend.

After retiring from the University of California in the early '90s, I began using my computer with a scanner, printer and Photoshop® software to edit and print images. Initially the results were disappointing; the consumer level hardware available then could not compete with traditional printing methods. Now, however, printers and scanners can produce images as good or beter than traditional print making.

A few years ago I began exhibiting my work in a number of venues in the San Diego area. I discovered that sharing one's art becomes an extrememly satisfying experience, encourageing me to keep on shootin' and improve my skills. Recently I joined one of the area's photo clubs and am participating in monthly competitions. In retrospect this is something I should have done years ago since being judged by professionals and accomplished amateurs is an excellent way to improve.