Robert Charles photographer wins top award

Date: 4/9/2007

Nestled in the picturesque New England town of East Longmeadow, Robert Charles Photography has long been known for the high-quality of its artistic work. Now, the national and international community has recognized the talent of its chief photographer and co-owner, Robert Francis Zemba. Zemba has been selected as the recipient of the 2006 Platinum Photographer of the Year Award by the Professional Photographers Association of America (PPA).



The award was founded to recognize excellence in PPA's International Print Competition and is presented to entrants whose recent body of work, judged on their emotional and technical merit, has furthered the advancement of the art and science of photography. Out of thousands of entries from 64 countries, only a select group of photographs are set aside for the PPA's "Loan Collection." Competing with photographers from around the world, three out of four of Zemba's prints were selected, an achievement many photographers spend their entire careers trying to reach.



Vividly contrasting scenes of a rustic Colorado landscape and a gritty urban shot of a couple kissing by a subway stop in Boston were two of the photographs selected for this honor. Zemba's remarkable prints also included a moving photograph of a United States Marine in a pensive mood and an illustrative image of a human eye, surrounded by cigar smoke, entitled "Eye of the Storm," reflecting the horrific calamity of the Katrina hurricane.



"It illustrates just how much can be accomplished when you surround yourself with incredible people," he explains, "This award was won by our entire Robert Charles Photography team working together - not by me alone. I never could have done it if it were not for the people around me."



Since 1990, Zemba's career has revolved around his family-owned studio in downtown East Longmeadow. The antithesis of generic photo shops, Robert Charles Photography is a boutique studio, specializing in fine art photography where Zemba's style of free-form portraiture flourishes.



This intuitive, spontaneous way to stress authenticity has allowed Zemba to "create images which reflect more of who our subjects are, rather than just what they look like."



To achieve this effect, he uses a lot of available light to capture people in natural settings. "The fewer distractions," he adds, "the better." Notable for putting his subjects at ease, Zemba believes that it is his responsibility to do what he can to "make the camera disappear and for the person to come forward and show us who they really are."