As a young boy Robert was introduced to some basics of light and composition by his father, a non-professional photographer, and is otherwise a self-taught Chicago-based photographer who admires the beauty of France to where he frequently travels.
Having learned the trade of a Glazier as a boy in a family business, he later was attracted to studying the iconography of stained glass windows and sculpture, in medieval through nineteenth-century churches in France. Initially, this was the only subject matter of his photography. He, with a camera, was later drawn to the inherent beauty of landscapes and cityscapes.
Formerly one who sketched, Robert now uses a camera to play with light and shadows as a way of paying homage to The Divine. France, its cities villages, monuments, the corner of a small street in Paris, was transformed from reverie to a mystical love affair from his first visit where he passes most of his time when not in Chicago.
He loves the silence, serenity, and beauty of Cathedrals and Churches, where often in solitude, the gentle whisper of Grace can be felt in-depth resulting in Gratitude that transcends one; a similar experience also happens in nature or on a city street and often gives way to the creative process.
A photographic artist is merely a servant to the Creator, an instrument, using a Gift to capture and reinterpret the already created; capturing light and applying the language of light, color, and shade, like wordless prayer, as it speaks to the heart in its deep core. Robert observes that the beauty we see may be there for only seconds, it is fleeting and is often gone as suddenly as it appears, as we experience it more with our heart than our eyes.
“On ne voit pas bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.” – “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
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