Who I am

A Life Coach and a Photographer…

I always kept to myself when I was a kid. We had a few bullies around, and I always had my eyes open for them, wary, trying to hide from them. It was the same strategy the smaller birds have when they suddenly quiet down and hide in the brush when a hawk is around. It didn’t always work for me.

I had lots of things to do though, Sure I had my chores, but after I was through with them, I read things, spent time on hobbies, and played sports with my friends. I was a good enough athlete to be one of the first to be picked for sandlot baseball, or football. I guess the bullies taught me how to fight reasonably well, because after a while, I toughened up, so I wasn’t really afraid of them any more, and thought of myself as a peacemaker, getting in the way of the bad kids who liked to pick on the smaller, younger kids, or the ones with disabilities.

As I matured, I had been developing a fairly deep sense of social justice, and Christ-based love. I tended to root for the underdog, and fighting bullies took on a different, more verbal, gentler and more patient character. In college my interest in religious spirituality, took my meditations away from Christian tradition towards Zen Buddhism and other philosophies that had become popular among students my age. It was not good for me, and as I wrestled with God, the world became somewhat muddled, and I am fortunate I survived that period of my life.

Instead I learned from it… the confusion, the pain, the lost connections, the humiliation. I learned good things, and became stronger, and more honest with myself and others. I ended my struggles with God, and he has rewarded me with with more humility, peace, love and joy than I imagined woulld be possible. Almost everything I do.. though I desire it to be more frequent… is informed by my faith. I hope tha it shows in my life. I’m sure that it does sometimes, but definitely not always- I still have some things to learn and to change about myself.

Over the years, I’ve learned some things about navigating life. It seems only fitting that i should share the blessings I’ve been given, including my disposition to help people who need help. Through my experiences while overcoming my own struggles , and listening to others’ stories, through formal studies in Psychology, with additional coursework in Life Coaching, I’ve developed some worthwhile therapeutic abilities that help folks navigate their own lives I’ve helped many people who’ve needed help, and I’ve found that it is supremely rewarding when I put my own life aside, to walk beside another person as they make difficult and significant- even metamorphic, healthy changes in their thoughts and behavior.

I feel like I ought to tie the above bio into my photographic journey…

I’m not sure why photography is such a joy to me. I believe it’s because it makes use of my entire brain, both left and right-sided thinking, and getting to photographic subjects can be physically exhausting much of the time, which helps me sleep. Then there is the final result- an image that has something to say, and keeps on giving every time I see it, as long as I give myself the time and the energy to make it a moment of its own. And indeed, the process of making the image, both in the camera and in the post-processing is a story of it’s own… and is often worth sharing.

Speaking of stories…Now that I think of it, a photographic image is a bit like a person- every person’s life is a composite of a bunch of stories that evolve as a way to explain, or even justify, their environment, thoughts and actions.. The stories we tell ourselves or others; the stories we create about ourselves and others; the stories we keep secret.

I sometimes let myself become frustrated when I am unfamiliar with a new area, and I have to explore without finding any subjects which excite me. On the other hand. exploration is a necessary part of the process, requiring some patience and perseverance. If a photographer has those things, “getting the shot” is lots of fun- especially when the experience is shared with a friend or two!

Another lesson from Life Coaching perhaps… Making worthwhile photos requires much consideration of the subject, just like listening is of primary importance to a Life Coach, in order to see beyond the obvious, one must be looking from a variety of viewpoints thaat differ from one’s default point of view. The diference is in the dimension, where the photograapher must point out the non-visual viewpoint using primarily a pictorial point of view, the Life Coach must guide the client beyond the points off view that a person tends to get stuck in. Once the client sees something in a differrent way, it often leads to an AHA moment, that unlocks the client’s creative potential. This is an essential function of the exploratory phase in Nature photography.

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When I found out that my deceased Grandfather was an amateur photographer in the 20’s…

I finally became interested in the little dusty room in the basement that was actually a darkroom- a place where pictures could be developed, and magic happened. My parents gave me a Kodak developing kit one Christmas, when I was eight or nine years old, and my dad let me use an old 35mm compact camera that he had. I took lots of pictures. A “lot” in those days was a roll of 36 frames of Plus-X Pan. My interest grew even though I had no clue what I was doing either with the camera or in the darkroom, as I experimented taking pictures of mundane subjects, with exposure settings based on the exposure chart inside the film pack .

Mom sent me to the local art museum every summer for several years to learn art appreciation, and In college, I bought a 35mm SLR and a few lenses. I used it for bike trips, sporting events and everything else. I took more art appreciation and photography classes, and my composition skills continued to improve as I read more books on photography and studied the Zone System. Ansel Adams was my photographer hero. and I remember the day I helped hang the collection of his huge exhibition black and whites in our gallery at Muhlenberg College. The images were so sharp, with such intense detail, that they seemed better than nature- with more detail in the prints than what could have been perceived by the naked eye!

I still couldn’t afford taking and developing very many photos for my own purposes, but I was able to enjoy taking pictures for the school paper and the yearbook, and eventually did a little bit of freelancing… Then I went digital… I could take as many pictures as I wanted until the shutter gave out! I bought another camera, and then others, and some more lenses, and went through several tripods and other equipment and wondered how I would pay for all the gear. For the last several years I’ve been slogging around a lot in the woods, trying to make photographic sense out of the visual disorder that is the Pennsylvania forest. It’s been a wonderful experience as I’ve been advancing in my craft, and have been rewarded with images that I really like.

I want to share what I have with others now. I love telling the story of how I captured what I saw when I took my favorite images, and I’ve been enjoying showing others how they can capture their own photos they can be proud of.

I hope you enjoy my galleries. It’s an extension of myself- of my desire to share what I am and what I have have, with others. If you see an image you like, certainly give me a shout out and see if you can purchase it. Even if you don’t want to purchase one right now, I’d truly appreciate it if you would help me spread the word about my website, my artwork and my life coaching…

Bob Speer