BIO

New England, born and raised. Though I have lived in California for all of my adult life, you cannot take the New Englander out of me. It follows me. I’m determinedly independent, critically frugal, I don’t take myself too seriously and yes, sarcasm slides in as an icebreaker. I make images that are real, that show a connection, that make you feel.

Photography entered my life at RISD, an extra course while I was at Brown studying Psychology and Comparative Literature with French. The photography courses at the Rhode Island School of Design reinvigorated my artistic side that STEM classes had hidden for a decade. And though I worked on locked psychiatric wards while in college, it was the time in the darkroom that I came to love. I became passionate about the medium, but my academic background stayed with me – psychology taught me to connect with people, to notice things they do or say, and to find a way put them at ease. And, Comparative Literature, it’s all about stories – a multi-disciplinary look at a theme. Decades of images later, I tell stories about people.

Health & wellness – I am as comfortable spending a day with a rare disease patient as I am playing with a runner on a wooded trail. For both I start with the person; a lifestyle image to me begins as a portrait.

While I work for advertising clients, personal projects are an important part of the studio’s emphasis. Constantly shooting – it’s both exercise and learning to me – be it breaking down fitness movement with an examination of dance, or creating medical related exhibits for the nonprofit I founded. With Facing Light, our first project, Facing Chemo, has traveled to galleries spaces around the US and Europe, and it has been featured in publications on six continents. We recently completed a project called Seeing Blindness and are currently photographing athletes who are amputees.

What else? I live on a ranch and my studio, in the barn, is a certified green business and is covered with solar panels. As an urban farmer, I tend to two bee hives, three goats, eight chickens, a pond full of koi, two golden retrievers, and a field of vegetables, oh, and the teenagers. I’m not sure which I prefer driving more, my Kubota tractor or my location Sprinter van.

CONTACT

studio 415 252 7818

bob@roberthouser.com

AWARDS

One Eyeland: World's Top 10 Black & White Photographers 2021, 2020, 2019

APA National Awards 2019 Gold [Sport]

One Eyeland: Awards 2019, 2018, 2017, 2014

One Eyeland: World's Black & White Photographers 2019 [Sport]

One Eyeland: World's Fine Art Photographers 2019 - 5 images

International Color Awards 2021, 2020, 2019

Black and White Spider Awards 2020, 2019, 2018

IPA Awards 2018, 2015, 2014

One Eyeland Best of the Best Photographers 2021, 2020, 2017, 2014

APA Something Personal show 2018, 2016, 2014

Communication Arts Photography Annual 2011, 1998

Folio Ozzie

Davey Award for Annual Reports

BOOKS

Fatherhood (2008) Introduction by Gloria Steinem

Facing Chemo (2013)