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In the Spring of 1999, 20 years after his father's death, Mr. Edwards discovered the remains of his father’s photographic canon in a
box in the attic of his parent's house. He had never seen any of these photos! Sadly many of them had suffered damage from years of high heat and extreme cold.
Most regular family photos were destroyed in 1972
by the highly acidic waters of the Susquehanna river when it overflowed its banks and buried his parent’s house in water that reached up to 5 ft. on the second floor.
The only memories Mr. Edwards had of his
father as a photographer was prior to his 6th birthday. After that time, the demands of his father’s business and, quite possibly the expense of a young child, caused him to abandon his hobby. The tragedy is that no one
in his family recognized his talents or abilities. He could have had a career as a professional photographer.
(To see historic early-mid 20th century photographs, click the Leica.)In addition to the Leica,
which was his father’s favorite camera, Mr. Edwards remembers the large portrait camera his father used. It had a black hood under which his father repeatedly buried his head. He spent a lot of time adjusting the large
(and very hot!) floodlights and reflectors so the gradations of light would be exactly right. (See this example)
It is likely that Robert L. Edwards inherited his father’s interest and ability to photograph subjects in an interesting manner. These slideshow
links provide a glimpse of the work of a talented photographer: images that convey an emotion, images of stature, images of beauty both natural and man-made, images of despair and images of hope. |
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