Black and White
Fine Art Photography.
Robert William Streeter.
Artist Biography
Robert William Streeter was born in Redhill, Surrey, England
and studied photography in London at Regent Street Polytechnic for
five years. He graduated in 1967 with second class honors in
advertising and industrial photography. He worked for more than thirty five
years as a professional industrial and advertising photographer.
After first being employed by the Monotype Corporation and
later working in various studios in and around London, and aboard
ships for the Cunard and Norwegian Caribbean lines, he opened his own
studio with in-house processing in 1978 in Crawley Sussex, England.
His clients grew to include British Airways, Dunlop Tires, Esso Petroleum,
Duracell Batteries and Phillips Electronics. In 1989 he emigrated to the
United States where he continued to pursue his profession in
northeast Tennessee for a further eight years before moving north to
Rockport, Massachusetts in 1997 where he was able for the first time to
engage himself in
fine art photography.
Artist Statement
I enjoy the challenge of obtaining images and altering them
in my darkroom using strictly traditional darkroom methods.
After years of working with large format cameras, my current
interest is to work with 35mm colour transparency material. I combine
[ by manual layering ] images of suitable clarity and density to produce,
with dodging and shading, a master black & white internegative. [ This is
when the photograph is actually produced in negative form, in the darkroom,
which is just a large camera. For those persons accustomed to darkroom
working the idea of actually entering a camera may at first thought seem
ridiculous. But, when considered carefully that is all a darkroom truthfully
is - a large camera ! ] At times I physically bend the film during the
making of the black and white master negative which enables me to
produce images with controlled distortion. It is only when I am as satisfied
as possible with the master negative that I produce the silver gelatin
photograph. I only sell original work. None of my images are marketed
or produced using ink. I retain the copyright of all images sold. I do not
produce limited edition quantities. If I sell one I might produce another
and I might not. My primary concern is to produce more images. Not prints.
It is my intention to produce images with a lasting and haunting beauty.
An image that once seen is not easily forgotten. I enjoy photographing
landscapes. I enjoy the outdoors and the changes in the weather and
seasons of the year. Recently however, as of mid 2006 I have moved in
another direction and begun to produce images using a macro lens and
extension tubes. I have become both fascinated and amazed at the
structures of shells, flowers and seeds. I have found that by obtaining
images that already have a naturally forming facial appearance, that I can,
by layering, produce images that can be a face in perfect balance and i am
looking forward to publishing some of these images on the website soon !
Curiously I have also found it possible to overlay the human face with the
face of another person in perfect proportions thereby seeing two people in the
same face in the same moment ! This can be done manually irrespective
of colour or sex ! Watch this space !
Forty years and more of labor,
Each a revolution.
I saw and knew the business buyers,
The departmental managers and the profit takers,
the Managing Directors and the Image Demanders.
All things do change and pass.
Light !
The wavelength commander and the latent image,
The chemical conversion.
The fixing and the washing and the final presentation.
All these are mine to share as magical moments.
The negative first seen as object and subject.
The involvement in the Process, its continuity,
its expectation and excitement.
Growth and fulfillment ! A glimpse of Joy. Suddenly Ecstatic !
I know this inspiration. To live it and to share it.
Rewards and Disappointments. Images to inspire,
to compose some lines of prose.
Subtle interpretations for meaningful appreciation.
And, for the image chosen and the freely given outcome ?
That is your decision... ...
Robert William Streeter. June 2006
updated May 2008