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Fine Art Landscape Photography by
Robert James Desmond
Click here for portfolio.
"I started camping by the shores of Lake Tahoe in 1952 after my
father purchased five acres on the West shore adjacent to Sugar Pine Point. As a small child, I loved to wander alone over this property,
and upon finding a secluded spot I would sit for hours and observe. At first, I would not see anything, but always in time, there would appear small animals of all kinds and my mind would seem to leave
me and wander off with these magical creatures into another place, another dimension, into wh at I really believed was another world.
I remember the lake as being very clear and very cold. I would sit
for hours on the end of Chamber's Pier with a short string baited with bacon and catch crayfish enough to fill a bucket. I would stare into
the crystal clarity of the lakes incredible underwater world.
Sitting in the woods at the edge of the lake, inevitably, and always, I would sense something more than my eyes were showing me. My
body and mind seemed to feel both a sense of wonder and a sense of spiritual oneness with something far greater than a young child could have understood. It wasn't until many years later while reading about the Washoe Indians philosophy of Tahoe that I finally started to understand what I had intuitively recognized and felt as a youth.
The Washoes called Lake Tahoe "Da Ow a Ga". This has been translated to mean "the edge of the lake." It is said that after wintering
in the warmer valleys of northern Nevada they would return to Tahoe every summer; whereupon, reaching the lake, they would first bless
the waters, and then bless themselves. While sitting and observing for long periods, they experienced the spiritual essence of the waters, the waters that they truly believed to be the beginning of all life."
Inherently Desmond has followed the Washoe's ways. Now he sits with tripod and camera, recording on film, hard-to-find compositions of rock and water. The intricate details of nature's art, patterns and textures, are captured through the lens of Robert Desmond. Ordinary views which become mystical for very brief moments are transformed by the presence of a very special light. His method is what has been known since the earliest of times and what anyone can know today by simply walking to the edge of the woods, to the edge of the lake. We sit, we watch, we observe the wonder of life, the phenomena of light, the very special light of "Da Ow a Ga". 
The Photography: In order to preserve with exquisite detail and clarity, Desmond specializes in 4x5 inch and 6x7 centimeter format photography. These larger transparencies are printed on high quality archival paper.
Bob Desmond has been a landscape photographer and naturalist for over 30 years. He graduated in biology with additional studies in photography at Humboldt State University and attended workshops led by noted photographers: Lou De Serio, William Neil, Louis Kemper, Clinton Smith and Chris Burkett.
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