One Man And His Camera

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In this edition of Hue’s Talking we speak with Robin Simons and learn about his journey with Parkinson’s and passion for photography.

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CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND

I have been a butterfly, flitting here and there. My working life began in a  plastics factory. Then three years in the Army followed by more manual  work. I went to University as a mature student when I was 25, going on to  study for my Doctorate, but never completed due to circumstances not of  my choosing. I swapped a life in Academia for one in social work, an arena  more suited to butterflies. I had seventeen years working at the coal face of  people’s chaos and catastrophe.  

Then my neurological time-bomb, Parkinson’s changed the course of my  life and created a different story. For twenty five years I have lived with my  Parkinson’s, more than half my adult life. I left one life and went in search of  a new one, one that I was more than a slave to my disease. My journey has  seen me travel 10,000 miles, across two continents and four different  countries and cultures. It has taken me to the rain forest in the Caribbean to  the wild mountains of the west of Ireland and now to the southern wine  fields of Germany.

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WHEN DID YOUR INTEREST IN PHOTOGRAPHY BEGIN? 

I took a road trip to California in the spring and summer of 1981. I was  hitching lifts. My interest was sparked through a chance meeting with a  professional photographer who stopped to give me a lift. At the time,  Wayne (Williams) was a staff photographer at the ABC studios in  Hollywood, Los Angeles. He introduced me to photography and has been  my mentor ever since. 

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WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAMERA. 

My very first camera was an Agfa 110 cartridge camera. The first  professional camera I got to use was the Nikon F3 lent to me by my friend  Wayne. When I started taking photography seriously I saved up and bought  myself a Nikon FE. From Nikon equipment I went onto what was my  favourite pre-digital camera, the Olympus OM4. 

With the advent of digital photography I now use Panasonic Lumix cameras  I have a LX 5 compact and an FX 300.

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DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE PHOTO, IF SO IS THERE A STORY BEHIND IT?

I am going to give you my favourite photo I have taken and also one that sits right in front of me at my desk. It is of two galaxies merging taken by NASA’S Hubbel telescope. It is an image I never tire of looking at. It fills me with wonder both for the technical ability to capture it and send it back to Earth and the magnitude of our Universe

 

From my own collection I have chosen the Connemara pony. Connemara is a wild and rugged landscape filled with mountains and lakes and bogs. It is sparsely   populated and home to this wild breed of horses. I often  saw this creature on my journeys by car and wanted to photograph it. I would take apples and carrots to feed him. Over a period of time he allowed me to get closer. When I finally captured him on camera it was if he knew what I wanted, he stood there proud and posed for me.

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ANY MAJOR INFLUENCES? 

Wayne Williams, my mentor, and John Daido Loori, a Zen abbot and Nature  photographer, a master of elegant beauty and simplicity. 

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WHAT DO YOU ENJOY SHOOTING THE MOST?  

Mostly nature, landscapes that have the element of water are one of my  favourite subjects. The majesty of mountains as well. Trees, I find are  fascinating subjects; flowers in their natural setting and also as still life  studies in a studio setting; stained glass artwork (especially the windows  produced by Harry Clarke). And my dogs, I am a Doberman fanatic!    

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FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, WHAT MAKES A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH? 

Great composition, simplicity of presentation of the subject. Excellent  lighting and exposure. Photographs that create their own world and invite you to step into it. 

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DO YOU FEEL YOUR WORK HAS IMPROVED OVER TIME, IF SO, IN  WHICH WAY? 

Certainly, I know what I like and what does not work for me. Over time I  think one progresses technically too. I have developed a good instinct in  discerning my subject material. When I had my Olympus OM4 I settled on  using two lenses only, a 21mm wide angle and a 100mm telephoto lens.  These two perspectives very much matched my imagination and my inner eye.  

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PEOPLE OFTEN SAY PHOTOGRAPHERS HAVE A DETAILED EYE. IS THIS  TRUE FOR YOU AND ARE YOU GENERALLY A DETAILED PERSON? 

I am not quite sure I understand what you mean by ‘detailed’. I am going to  assume that the word encapsulates the concept of the photographer being  aware both in composing the photographs content, he/she pays attention  to all the details and in a conscious constructive manner. 

I would probably be known and ‘seen’ as someone who deals well with the  detail of living and working. But not so when taking and capturing images.  With photography, I see the image through my eye, it is a sensing process,  instinctive. The camera and subsequent photo are the means and product of creating an echo of what I saw in my minds eye. This has always been  my way of taking photographs. 

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WHEN YOU TRAVEL, WHAT GEAR DO YOU TAKE WITH YOU? 

I take my compact and nothing else. When I first got into photography I  would carry a full bag of gear, two cameras with motor drives, 4, maybe 5  lenses, flash and filters. That was 40 years ago, I had the strength, and a  matching lack of discernment. As my age increased along with my health  issues the amount and weight of the equipment decreased. In the  mountains I only ever used my compact. 

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DO YOU USE EDITING SOFTWARE? 

Yes, I like to edit my photos as soon as I have downloaded to my laptop. I  have an early version of Photoshop but am not very keen to employ its bag  of tricks. I like to keep the images I have captured as close to what I saw. I  use Apple’s Photos software. Nothing special, nothing grand. It works well  for me in the basics; cropping, highlights and shadow detailing, contrast.  and making adjustments to get the best exposure.

 

HAVE YOU EVER FELT AWKWARD OR CHALLENGED WHEN TAKING A  PHOTOGRAPH  

No, not really. I don’t like being conspicuous and being a photographer, I  feel it is part of your skill to not intrude. My field of photography for the last  twenty years has focused on the natural world so this issue has not been  on my list of concerns. 

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HAS PARKINSON’S AFFECTED YOUR WORK? IF SO, IN WHAT WAY? 

My Parkinson’s has most certainly affected my photography in two ways.  There is the practical or physical aspects of the disease to cope with. My  form of Parkinson’s, the rigid form challenges me in holding my camera  

steady, Dyskinesia is my problem. I guess folks who have the tremor  experience this issue even more intensely. In response to this, I have chosen  equipment that I am very comfortable with, and adapted myself to the  problem. I am hopeless with the Smart phone, although I have one. For  every in focus image, I produce 20 out of focus or clumsily composed  photos. I take my trusty compact LX5 with me. With my larger camera, I use  a light-weight but sturdy tripod. My advice is to keep the process and your  equipment simple. 

 There is the philosophical side as well. I wrote the following thoughts in an  article for the Irish Independent newspaper, in 2019: 

“Indulge your passions, they are a source of joy and they energise you. They  are the sunshine that pierces through the clouds of daily struggles that can  limit your vision.” 

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WHERE CAN PEOPLE SEE YOUR WORK? 

At the present time, here on the Parkinson’s Art web-site, and naturally on  my web-site www.robinfredsimon.com 

My latest book ‘Dancing On The Mountain Tops’ has a very special multi media presentation of my mountain photography. 

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ANY PLANS OR EVENTS ON THE HORIZON 

After my DBS surgery and near fatal fall in the early summer of 2016, I spent  many days in the hospital neuro-clinic in Tuebingen. This was the site of my  first exhibition. Before the pandemic I mounted four exhibitions of my Irish  landscapes, 50 photographs in all. It was a very positive experience putting  my photographic art in the public’s eyes. 

I donated the framed photographs that I was left with to one of our local  Old People’s Homes. They also requested that I give a talk to the residents  at the home about the story behind each photograph and of course, about  how I manage my Parkinson’s. The pandemic has played havoc with  timetables and commitments. I have a January date pencilled in for this talk, but who knows given the fourth wave. 

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ANY FINAL COMMENTS OR ADVICE FOR PEOPLE WANTING TO GET  INTO PHOTOGRAPHY? 

Photography is a great medium that has given me enormous pleasure over  the past forty years, and will continue to do so in my future years.  

Digital photography in the age of the Smart-phone has enabled everyone  to access the photo-taking habit. We are now flooded with images on  Social media, on the web and in the hands of every Smart phone owner.  

The beauty of the natural world speaks to many. In nature there are no  definitive images. One can look out on the mountains and see the light  paint a different picture with each passing cloud. So too with photography,  we each see the mountains and like the clouds, each view is unique.