Upon completing a workshop from the esteemed colour photographer Arthur Meyerson, he has you complete a questionnaire. In lieu of a formal bio, here's my answers to his questions . . .
AM: Where do you live and what do you do for a living?
JRB: I live in North Vancouver, British Columbia. For a living I’m retired from analyzing large scale legacy software systems with a view to modernizing them.
AM: Where/when did you first develop your interest in photography?
JRB: Like many, I photographed in high school and briefly had a darkroom in a basement bathroom. My father had given me an Argus C3 and a 100' roll of expired B&W film from his work. The interest waned until the 80s when I purchased an SLR, a Contax 139, for a vacation in New Zealand.
AM: Of all the art forms in the world, why photography?
JRB: Because it has both technical and artistic merits in equal amounts. It also straddles the analogue/digital boundary which I find endlessly fascinating.
AM: What approach do you take to photography?
JRB: When taking several photographs of a subject, typically it's the first image that is the better one. I spend the most time getting a clear picture of what to shoot before taking that first photo. It seems that for me working the scene degrades that mental picture.
AM: How often do you photograph?
JRB: In spurts. After a workshop or more frequently a meetup I'll continue taking photos on the theme for a time. I'm most fortunate in that my wife takes photos as well, so we go together on a hike with our cameras. We review all our results together.
AM: Other than workshops, have you had any formal training in photography?
JRB: Workshops is as formal as it as been.
AM: What is your favourite genre of photography?
JRB: What I'm shooting at the time is the flippant answer. Wide angle because of the challenge it presents. Lately it is B&W film in medium and large format because of the effort needed before pressing the shutter.
AM: What inspires you or where do you seek inspiration?
JRB: Whenever disparate ideas come together to unveil something new. I read somewhere that a great way to get deeper into one subject is to study something quite different and see how the two subjects relate. I take inspiration from the resultant aha moments. Also, a pleasing sense of balance is inspiring.
AM: Who do you most admire (past or present) and why or who’s art do you admire?
I enjoy modern art and modern music. There are so many creative people today and so many accessible ways to be creative. Then I also enjoy the old masters, Renoir in particular.
AM: Name somewhere and/or someone you’d love to photograph?
JRB: The Northwest Passage. Or anywhere in Italy.
AM: Do you have a favourite photography book?
JRB: One I especially like is Mother Earth, Through the Eyes of Women Photographers and Writers edited by Judith Boice. A photo of lavender fields by Sonja Bullaty is a favourite. I like to have something to read along with the photographs, something not directly about taking photographs.
AM: What do you collect?
JRB: I'm no longer collecting things, being currently in a decluttering phase. We're collecting experiences from now on.
AM: What is your most valuable possession?
JRB: In order to declutter I think you need to let slip the absolute value of your possessions. To that end I think of those I have hung on to, like the Argus C3, as a placeholder for the experiences gone by.
AM: Tell us something about yourself that we don’t know.
JRB: I once worked in a building with 5 nuclear reactors. One of which was exactly like the reactor in a swimming pool in the James Bond movie. I was a junior Fortran programmer at Atomic Energy of Canada's research campus in the Ontario wilderness.