We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bob Coates. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bob below.

Bob, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

Wanting to create art has been a goal since I was in high school. I felt I had some talent in art classes but I could never quite get what was in my head onto the media surface. Often, tearing up work that was not to my standard but was lauded by my art instructor saying, “Why did you tear that up? It was wonderful!” Looking back I see that I had no concept that Perfection is the enemy of creativity.

Moving forward I embraced photography and worked through various genres from news, commercial, art picking up and putting down the camera for 13 years before fully embracing it as a career. It was a move from the comfort zone of the business while living in the US Virgin Islands to the high desert of Sedona, Arizona that started to unlock the fully creative side of my imaging. While working to build my photo business I knew I’d have ‘down time.’ I embraced learning Adobe Photoshop. At first it was working with basic tools for processing and enhancing, but as I worked I realized there were deep creative possibilities pushing the tools beyond what the inventors had in mind. Studying others artistic work and building new techniques upon what I learned I began writing articles and teaching what I learned to others. I have found if you really want to learn something teach others. When you teach you need to understand your subject inside and out often needing to describe processes in multiple ways as some learn in different ways.

Experimentation with camera techniques melded with creative digital post-production techniques led to finally being able to get what was in my mind onto canvas. Working to get gallery representation was trying to say the least. When asked what I do and replying “I’m a digital artist.” resulted in rolled eyes and comments such as, “yeah, so is my high school daughter, my neighbor and most other folks I know.”

This brings me to the creation of ‘Lens Based Artist.’ When asked what a Lens Based Artist is I was in control of the conversation sharing that, “All of my source materials comes through a camera lens. After that all bets are off. Then I manipulate the color, tone, texture and build in depth and dimension to the finished piece.” With that said, I was able to attain gallery representation and separate my work from ‘Digital Artists.’

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

After spending time chasing careers that ultimately were not for me, I moved toward embracing a path to photography and the art based upon it. The good part about that career journey was each job along the way ultimately helped with my success. Through them I learned marketing, business and people skills. Without this previous experience I would never have become successful.

As an aside, I recommend that anyone going into any creative field learn marketing first and second to get their name out. And, business third before starting because artists tend to undercharge for their work not knowing all of the costs that go into producing a product of any sort.

My work embodies a slightly oriental aesthetic employing texture and color with added depth and dimension. I feel it is important to have a ‘reality within the fantasy’ for the work to besuccessful. Shadows need to to be believable even in a non-reality piece. Another goal is to create ‘art that’s alive’ when making landscape creations. That means as light changes on the image whether natural or artificial the artwork takes on a different feel. My gallery has taken to adding a rheostat on lights over some of my work. The demonstration of lowering and raising the volume of light makes the viewer see the resulting effect.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In addition to creating my own art I have a great desire to share my techniques with other photographer artists. There is so much joy to be had upon seeing the ‘Lights go on” when sharing techniques of using new camera techniques or pushing processes in Adobe Photoshop. There is a small selfish motive in pushing to teach others. I get a deeper understanding of the subjects I share which pushes my art to new places.

I’m often asked why I would share my techniques. They ask, “Aren’t you afraid people will steal your customers?” That answer is a resounding ,”No!” I am always trying to push boundaries and grow my work. We are all in the same boat and I am standing on the shoulders of those photographic and digital artists that have come before me.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Part of my teaching involves being an author. I’ve penned a few books and many magazine articles highlighting the craft of photography and digital art creation. In addition, I also write at least three articles per month for the online magazine Photofocus.com. I have joined and been deeply involved in professional photographic associations such as Arizona Professional Photographers Association and Professional Photographers of America (PPA) among others. This visibility as an expert has had a strongly positive effect.

As a PPA Approved juror I have been helping to judge photo competitions from the state to the International level. Performing this service for the industry has the benefit of being exposed to new and exciting work. It also is imperative that have a deeper understanding and vocabulary to share why I may feel an image has been successful or not. Think of it as swimming in images.

From the other side being a solid writer and sending out continual press releases to local media has leveled up my name recognition in my community. As I mentioned before I highly recommend working on and understanding marketing to make yourself known in the industry.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://successful-photographer.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bob_coates
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.coates.7923
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobcoatesphotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSixAGJeY8L7VLT85FTaSw
• Other: https://coatesart.net https://bcphotography.com

Image Credits
© Bob Coates Photography