Meet photographer Bob Goldberg.
How Did You Become An Artist?
I’ve never considered myself an artist but a serious and committed amateur photographer striving to become an artist. This quest began before I was 12-years old. Taking pictures was the new “thing” on my block in Brooklyn. The older guys had cameras and were using them around the neighborhood. Even more exciting to me was the magic that occurred in the darkroom. I was captivated by the black and white images that emerged on a sheet of previously blank paper as it swam in a tray of smelly chemical solutions.
The high point of my early adventures in photography was the photograph I made of General Dwight Eisenhower when he was welcomed in New York City as the great hero of World War II. His motorcade stopped for a moment as it crawled along 14th street. At that moment I slipped under the barricade and with my camera moved up to his open car to get a close-up. I yelled,”Hey, General!”, and he turned toward me and smiled. I snapped the shutter and made a great photo. I learned then that great pictures are made by bold actions and lost by failure to act.
Today my interests in photography extend from old railroad steam locomotives, industrial scenes, unique buildings (including the victorian Towers of Nyack, people and street scenes of New York City, to local historical subjects, many of which have been seen in the Armchair Walking Tours of the Historical Society of the Nyacks. In short, I consider the world my studio.
What’s Your Muse?
I’ve have many muses and idols. They include masters of the photographic arts such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, both masters of composition and the technical skills required to fully present the beauty of their work. Also, Alfred Eisenstadt and the great team of photographers that made Life Magazine such a great and powerful mirror of contemporary life.
What’s Next?
I plan to do a lot of looking in the future, hoping to discover many new subjects and new ways of seeing and photographing them.
