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School of Visual Arts New York : Thomas Roma Documentary Photographer March 26, 2017

Posted by bohdan.warchomij in : Metaphor Online , trackback

Tomas Roma Documentary Photographer:

I have never heard of Thomas Roma (maybe because he was born Thomas Germano in 1950) but I learnt so much from his talk for the School of Visual Arts You Tube Channel that I am surprised I have never ever heard of him before. His  video presentation is based on the 16 books he has published to date and it is an astonishing body of work. What is amazing about it is his choice of subjects, and his methodology of sharing it. He is obviously a great teacher with a sense of humour and a quality of personal deprecation that contributes to understanding the photographic process that both art photographers, documentary photographers, and photojournalists can earn from. And best of all, he even made his own camera. This You Tube Channel is inspirational. And so is Thomas Roma.

Siciliano Camera Works

In the 1970s, Roma started manufacturing and selling cameras under the name “Siciliano Camera Works”. He produced the medium format “Siciliano”, the 35mm panoramic “Pannaroma”, as well as a rewind crank for the Leica M2 & M3. To create the panoramic camera, Roma used a Nikon F camera body that was gutted and served merely as a film holder. He milled an adapter out of aircraft aluminum to go between the Nikon body and a Mamiya 50mm Sekor lens. He also made a bright-line optical viewfinder for the camera. The camera was called a “Pannaroma 1X3″, making a play on words between “panorama” and Roma’s wife’s name “Anna,” to create the word “P-anna-roma“.

Thomas Roma (formerly Thomas Germano born in 1950) is an American photographer who has worked almost exclusively since 1974 exploring the neighborhoods and institutions of his native Brooklyn, photographing scenes from churches, subways and everyday life, using a homemade camera.

Roma is currently a Full Professor at Columbia University‘s School for the Arts, and the Director of the Photography Department which he founded. He has also taught photography at Yale UniversityFordham UniversityThe Cooper Union, and The School of Visual Arts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHfZV_kGBh8

Published on 13 Mar 2017

Twice a recipient of Guggenheim Fellowships and a New York State Council for the Arts Fellowship, Thomas Roma’s work has appeared in international exhibitions, including one-person shows with accompanying books at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the International Center of Photography. His talk is part of the i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series, which features fine-art, commercial, editorial, documentary and fashion photographers and industry experts including publishing, galley, software and hardware professionals. Presented by MPS Digital Photography.

https://www.youtube.com/user/SVANewYorkCity

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