審美提升 攝影大師影集 英國版薇薇安·邁爾：羅伯特·布洛姆菲爾德的攝影傳奇

Bomfield was born in 1938, a year where Hitler marched into Austria, Orson Welles creates nationwide panic with his broadcast of War of the Worlds, a year where the ballpoint pen was invented and the first xerographic print was produced, a year where Europe already marched towards war, oblivious of the profound wounds it would leave on both its landscape and people. Robert belongs to this generation that saw the world transform rapidly, from war and instability to peace and prosperity, and while the Cold War still persisted in the background, the sound of sirens would be dominated by the sound of the Beatles, the advance of technology would become unstoppable, and society would gain that chronic, rapid and stressful pace that many of us still recognize today, and from large events to small details and everything else that life brought with it, Robert would be there to capture it, after all, his love for photography started early in his life, quote, his whole life seems to be through the viewfinder, from the age of 13, he was always looking for the quirky, the funny in everything going around him all the time, it was his way of life, and it's a way of life that Robert himself described as being a form of love, quote, I was studying medicine, but my passion was for photography, I think it's a form of love, you'll love the picture, and I really loved taking pictures, but despite his love, Robert never actually made of it a profession, in fact, he would go on to become a doctor, but the dedication he put into his hobby, shall we call it that way, throughout the whole of his life, it's almost unprecedented, he would spend many days and evenings both photographing or producing prints, so much so that it begs the question, do you need to make it a profession in order to be a photographer? I believe Robert, Vivian and Masha's stories prove that you don't, in fact, their stories highlight one of the most important ideas of what it takes to be a photographer, passion, when it comes to that though, there's no better testimony to one's passion, than what it produces, and of course, here we speak of photographs, these photographs are witnesses of a fascination with photography, that cannot be found in the same way in today's streets, during this time, children would come to you and say, can you take me picture mister? and we can perhaps argue that it was more flattering, or mysterious, having a stranger taking your picture, maybe people thought it was for the newspaper, or a serious reporting of some kind, today though, people are more aware of how everyone can take pictures, of how accessible photography has become, yet today, we look back at Robert's photos, and we value them because perhaps in an unconscious effort, we recognize in them, what many of today's photos circulating on social media might lack, a formal quality of the composition, a great storytelling, and a high degree of compassion and humanism, and all of this was achieved through what I consider to be a discreet style, Blomfield's use of the camera was unobtrusive, and he even went as far as to cover the camera brand with black tape, in order to go by more unnoticed, a trait that he would probably borrow from one of his greatly admired peers, Cartier-Bresson, who alongside Robert Doigneux, challenged Blomfield in his words, to see more and be less seen, with the cameras that he carried everywhere, which is a great lesson to us photographers, particularly those working in the street or documentary fields, that wish to be less seen in order to better, and more genuinely capture their subjects, so in essence, in viewing these photographs today, we can also understand and appreciate, the historical importance of these images, as they remain documents of a time long gone, and through them, we're also able to see the many changes taking place, in many of the UK's inner cities, changes brought by the necessity the world had of finding peace, and simultaneously, we can perceive these images, as testaments to the photographer's talent, in seeing the value, virtue, and beauty of the everyday life. I think in a way a lot of the pictures, it was as though they were put there for me to take a look at, I didn't have to set the stage, the stage set itself. As I dug into Robert's work, flipping through the pages of the books, with his images of London, Edinburgh, Sheffield, the images he made on his bicycle trip to Istanbul, nothing made more sense, nothing united all of them more, than Robert saying that, he didn't set the stage, the stage set itself. So looking at these photos, it's almost as if there's this idea, of this continuous play that unfolds progressively, sometimes in more simple terms, sometimes through more complex ideas, but nevertheless, it's a continuous interplay we cannot stop, but only hope to freeze from time to time, through the act of raising our cameras, and taking a picture. Looking at Robert's work, there's this contagious sense of hope, not only in one's own capacity, to see and admire the world's beauty, but in photography itself, as one of the best and most accessible medias, through which we're all able to celebrate, the past and the present, whilst looking forward to a future, and what it may look like. Ultimately, looking at Robert's work, and photographers like Robert, renews our faith, in what remains to be seen and admired, in this continuous stage we call life. And honestly, this is what I actually felt at first, when I looked at Robert's work. I felt this renewal of hope, and this ability of capturing the beauty of life. And of course, there's never been a time, where being alive was not challenging. There's always been, of course, things going on with the world. But today, of course, we have a lot going on as well, in terms of political instability, you know, tensions, wars, financial instability as well. You know, we've been through a lot in the last, been a couple of years, especially with COVID and whatnot. So, looking at Robert's work, it really kind of makes you think, that you can indeed look at life, with a different lens, pun intended. And you can focus on the beauty of it, the virtue of it, what we can take from it, that is inspirational. And it's all about sometimes, the way we look at things. And so, that's a great reminder from, that I take personally from Robert's work. I loved looking through the photos, the expressions of the people. I think he was amazing, an amazing photographer, not only for his storytelling, and things that I've touched on this video, but of course, he was able to get such great portraits as well. So that's one of his strengths in my opinion. But of course, Robert left behind a great amount of work, that he captured throughout his whole life. And his sons, who run his photographic estate, are doing of course their best. But there's a lot to be done still, especially as the website states, in terms of color photography, or his color photography in this case. So there's a lot of scanning, there's a lot of cataloging, there's a lot that still needs to be done. And especially to, in order to help out, putting more things out there, I'd like to ask you, if you have some spare time, check out Robert's website, and see how you can help. Maybe if you can afford it, purchase a book or two. He has like small, very affordable books, or sort of like magazine style books. And also you can donate, whether it's a pound or two, it doesn't really matter. But if a lot of people can help, I'm sure they'll be very grateful. They didn't ask me to say this. This was just me, discovering his story, through one of you guys. And I wanted to, you know,massively thank you as well, for always contributing to things, with things, with ideas and stuff for the channel. So I discovered Robert's story through that, and I reached out to them. And this is how we've been able to work on this video. So if you out there as well know, someone who doesn't matter if, you know, whatever estate they're, you know, currently running, if it's a more, quote-unquote, popular photographer that we've heard of, or, you know, someone who's emerging, or someone who, like Robert, was not a photographer by profession, but worked throughout his life, and left a lot of great work behind, reach out to me. My contacts will be down below. And,you know, maybe we can do something. Maybe we can, you know, just present to you guys more photographers, that need to be certainly known, and seen by the world, like Robert today. And yeah, I guess that it's all for today. So I really appreciate you, for taking the time out of your day, to watch my videos, to support the channel. It means a lot. And yeah, I guess that I'll keep you in the loop, for what's going on next, especially through community posts. But I'll see you in the next video. So take care, stay safe, keep shooting, keep creating, keep learning photography, and I'm out.