Landscape and urban photography based in Chicago, IL.
Rob Catania has been making images for more than thirty years. Based in Chicago, he has been in and around the photographic market since the bug first bit him as an under-graduate at Loyola University. He honed his craft on 4×5 and medium format film, where lighting a room scene was equally as important as exposing a good bracket of shots.
“I learned from some really great Chicago architectural photographers that seeing the composition and seeing the light in a scene meant you were on your way to producing a great image.”
After 10 years of watching others show him how to take pictures, he decided to take his real life experience back to the classroom and he completed an MFA in digital imaging in 2010.
“I became reinvigorated aboout making images and embracing technology. Photography has always been about the latest and greatest technologies. In the early part of last century, Kodak created a camera that allowed the user to carry a device with them to take pictures. They could then send the camera in to Kodak for processing. They would receive prints and a re-loaded camera back…it’s not that different today. We just get our images a lot faster.”
Rob believes that the print is the ultimate expression of the work that goes into making a strong image. The print makes it real, tangible and emotive.
"Photographers often take hours to make one image whether setting up a shot or waiting for the right light. Making a great print is equally important. Photography needs to be about the print. As photographers we’re saying ‘look at this slice of life and time that I have captured’. The light that captured this image is being held here for you to appreciate… and nothing does that quite like the printed image.”
While influenced by photographers like Lee Friedlander, Frank Gohlke and Ansel Adams who have different styles to be sure, Rob has begun to elicit his own style that takes the landscape photograph into the city, while the city scene is treated like a landscape.
"As digital technology continues to improve, I have found that the "range of light" I want to portray, and the range of subjects I want to use continues to expand. I'm a documentary style image maker, I am always looking for my photographs to say something to the viewer, but I am coming to the realization that sometimes a good image just is.”
"Photography exists, in part, because the need to show someone your point of view is an artist's driving force."
One last thought: Today's AI driven image making is only the start to AI making images. The real challenge will be when people own their image making in a camera, and are truly clear about when computer has assisted with making a picture. It's in this realm that image making and vision will allow art to exist as art for artists and those who appreciate it, and fantasy will be for everyone else.