Bob Gardner

Robert H. Gardner

Artist  Statement

It wasn’t until my freshman year in college that someone put a name—“dyslexia”— to the years of difficulty I had with reading, writing and other left-brain skills, which I still struggle with today.  Fortunately, a sympathetic lab teacher taught me to focus on the visual and mechanical aspects of whatever I was studying, which enabled me to function using a different perspective.

Over the years, I have come to realize that this coping mechanism has also made me a better photographer.  Rather than just looking at the image in the camera, I naturally search for other perspectives, other ways of seeing what is ordinary. Each artist makes his or her world their own and, in doing so, takes the viewer to this higher perspective.

Photography is a personal journey that I choose to share with others, and it benefits us all when that journey can extend limitlessly.

One thing I can be sure of is that when I create an image that is a composite or incorporates some sort of digital art, some people get offended. This is ridiculous and needs to end for photography to continue growing.

Regardless of what some may think, there are no boundaries for photography. We are artists and we follow our mind’s eye, not the eye of the beholder. Incorporating elements from other media or from other images into a single piece of work does not weaken the virtues of photography. Neither does heavy dodging and burning, extreme saturation boosts, color changes, or any other creative effort made by a photographer. On the contrary, these acts of artistic output makes photography bigger, stronger, and more legitimate as an art.

We can take as many photos as we want with digital photography, but the photos that we put thought into and really care about are the ones that show who we are as artists.