Bobby Izquierdo – Painting With Light
Interview by Vidabeth Bensen and Forrest Greenslade, March 2024
In his Oasis Studio at Meadowview in a rural community near Pittsboro, photographer Bobby Izquierdo creates images reminiscent of Duch master’s still life or contemporary abstract paintings. He named his studio in honor of his family’s heritage. His father came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1956 to further his education as a classical opera singer. His dad even appeared on T.V. in Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. He had worked in the meat processing business in Havana, and he was introduced as the singing butcher. His music career didn’t flower, so he started a record company in Brooklyn. He wanted to name it Oasis Records, but it was not available. So, he created O.A.S.I. Records. Bobby called his photography studio Oasis Studio at Meadowview in memory of his father.
“I want to create images that look like oil paintings, bringing out the beauty in objects that might not be interesting to other people and nighttime images with dramatic lighting effects.”
Bobby equipped his studio with state-of-the-art photographic and image-processing equipment; his expertise as a fine art photographer is the culmination of a long and impactful career as an electrical engineer. He received a Bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Florida, a Master’s degree from Florida Atlantic University, and a Ph.D. from N.C. State. “I was the Director of Electrical Design Engineering for Extron Electronics, an Audio/Video industry leader. My group developed video streaming embedded hardware encoders, decoders, and recorders. I specialized in video compression and quality analysis. I have much programming experience, which helps when using software like Lightroom and Photoshop, which I require in my still-life light sculpting work.”
Bobby’s critical inspiration came when he discovered the work by Harold Ross in an article in Lenswork magazine on still life light painting. He took a workshop from Ross and enhanced it with a private session. Bobby has developed this concept in his own direction.
“I have my camera connected to the computer in tethered mode. I must build a set composed of a group of objects I have in the studio. Creating a composition can take time as I make the set around a central object. This part of the process can take me a few hours to several weeks as I place objects, let things settle, think about it, leave the set for some time, return, look at it, and make more adjustments.
“I then evaluate the exposure for correctness, which differs from how you usually do it. You want to ensure that you capture the highlights. If it’s not right, I must reshoot it. If I accidentally bump the set, I must start over from the beginning because each shot must synchronize all the objects. Otherwise, rebuilding the composition in Photoshop could be difficult, sometimes impossible. Once I finish the captures, I process them in Photoshop.”
Bobby likes to take a single object to visualize its texture, color, and light, especially when the object has a story behind it. For example, Roy Underhill, the Host of the PBS TV program The Woodwright Shop, had a teaching facility in downtown Pittsboro. When Underhill retired and the shop closed, Bobby told the story with a light painting of a heritage mallet.
“I hope people connect with my photographs in an emotional way. They may remember past loved ones, a favorite hobby, or work they do now or years ago. This connection could be difficult to make with my still-life images because it requires a description.”
Bobby Izquierdo’s fine art photography can be seen on his website https://bobbyizquierdophoto.com and his presence on The Chatham Guild website: https://chathamartistsguild.org/artists/bobby-izquierdo/.
