GRANDMA MADE ME DO IT
She gave me a Kodak Instamatic 124 Camera for my seventh birthday—and I was hooked. (She saw something in me, but that’s what grandmas do.)
Although I’ve come a long way from taking “snaps” with that little Instamatic camera in our Sacramento backyard, there’s still one common element: I try to see things in their true light, capturing their inner beauty and the simplicity of form present in everything—from a chain smoking Parisian in a dark cafe to a cruise ship in the Panama Canal.
I’ve been taking photos forever, in a variety of situations, and I still feel like that 7 year old looking at his first photos. I am amazed and humbled by the process of photography. Freezing an instant in the river of time for eternity, never to be repeated exactly the same again. Watching prints come to life in a tray of developer to now, seeing them pop up on a computer monitor, I feel the same giddy sense of awe.
I want to share my childlike enthusiasm with as many people as I can. Incredible things can happen when a group of creative people get together and are willing to go one step further as a team.
I love working on location, in the real world. There’s always a zillion little challenges, and this energizes me. My goal is for you to feel that my photo is real, not staged and that you, the viewer, are a part of it.
Henri Cartier Bresson, Richard Avedon, Dorothea Lange, and Margaret Burke White are my early influences. I also admire the color shooters, iconic photographers like Pete Turner, Jay Maisel, and Greg Heisler, but it’s those classic black and white shooters that have real soul.
WHO LOVES ME
The list includes the following: Barilla Pasta, Mohegan Sun Casino, Bacardi, The Gap, Saturn Cars, Specialized Bicycles, Burger King, Banana Republic, Norwegian Cruise Line, Crystal Cruise Line, Holiday Inn, Regent Cruise Line, Sea Dream Yacht Club, Carnival Corporation, Seabourn Cruise Line, Silversea Cruises, Sol Melia Resorts, Doral Golf and Country Club, Hard Rock Casino, Costa Cruise Line, IHG Hotels, Ritz Carlton, Exclusive Resorts, Minto Properties, Zoot Sports, Santana Cycles and a couple more.
There’s also “The Chicago Tribune” review of “Café Life San Francisco,” the fourth book in the Café Life series published by Interlink Press.
Here’s what they had to say: “San Francisco is famous for its cafe culture. In this colorful guide, writer Joe Wolff and photographer Roger Paperno explore the city’s neighborhoods in search of the best cafes. Wolff offers lengthy portraits of each cafe and its owner, while Paperno’s gorgeous photographs give the book an elegant finishing touch.”
The work has been honored by Graphis, LA AD Club, Miami Ad Club, SF Ad Club, Communication Arts and has more than 30 Addy’s collected so far.
And then, there’s grandma. Thanks again for getting me started.