Why am I a Photographer?

The word "photography" comes from the Greek words φως phos "light", and γραφίς graphis "stylus", or γραφή graphê "drawing". The two words together mean "drawing with light." In this sense, it is a way of writing.

Photography is the art of writing-drawing with light. Having been trained for many years in Japanese and Chinese calligraphy and painting, my approach to photography is the same as those paintings. It is not a matter of depicting shapes. It consists of transmitting the Spirit of Life of what you are painting, or, in the case of photography, of what you photograph. In the course of time, I learned that this approach is common to all traditional arts, not only Asian, but also Native American and Celtic. So it may be justly said that mine is a traditional approach.

In this wise, in order to practice the art, you must become one with the Spirit of life, and then transmit it by means of the brush, or the camera. When you look at the world, you don’t just look at the shapes, but you must perceive its Spirit. It is the Spirit what we transmit.

The same as I started reading and writing at the age of four, I did my first shot at the same age. I had my first darkroom at ten, and started working professionally at eighteen. Since then I have covered several areas of photography, from journalism to advertising. In the last few years, however, I concentrated in nature photography. These images are a small part of my work.

Bob Curto