photographic prints should invite interpretation. whether abstract or
realistic, black & white or color, each print should allow the observer to feel
an emotion, a sensibility, that is instinctive and personal. we should be
moved to see more than what is before our eyes.
i take pictures of what interests me. shapes, textures, angles, light,
shadow… when some (or occasionally, all) of these catch my eye and
emotions, that’s when I stop and take a picture. the amount of serendipity in
this process can be humbling. shots that I’m certain will look good, quite
often turn out to be ordinary. and shots that are taken in a haphazard, oh-
what-the-heck sort of way can turn out to be gems. it’s this unknown
element, this uncertainty, that keeps photography exciting for me.
i have been taking pictures for most of my life, starting when I was a boy with
a kodak brownie. i graduated to a 35mm SLR after the service. i took pictures
on vacation, at sporting events, pictures of nature, buildings, people on the
street... whatever caught my eye. about 1998 I purchased an inexpensive
medium format twin-lens- reflex (tlr) camera. the larger negatives made the
prints seem much more vibrant, much more '3-d' to my eye. in 2000 I
purchased a 4x5 large format camera, and things have never been the same.
i relished the ritual of setting up the tripod and camera, selecting the correct
lens and taking hand-held meter readings of the scene before me. the
slower, more contemplative nature of large format forced me to consider
each picture in depth. i made some prints. a local gallery agreed to show my
work. it was a revelation.
i’m now shooting with a digital camera. but in a strange twist, i'm now printing
by hand. i'm doing pop (printing- out-paper) and cyanotypes. i hope the
viewer isn't concerned with how the image is captured or how the image is
printed. because ultimately, it's all about the image itself.
i hope you enjoy my work... and i invite your comments.
thank you,
bob k.
robert a. kamarowski - photography
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