By Becky Gillette – After Edward C. Robison III got serious about photography in 1999, he used a large format 4”x5” film camera. At that time he was encouraged to switch to digital photography, but decided against it because he thought the quality was not that great.
But in the years since, digital photography has improved so dramatically that Robison has been able to do things like publish a photography book in 2015, Ozark Landscapes, An Augmented Reality Project, that allows viewers using a smart phone or a tablet to see time-lapse photography of some of the most scenic spots in the Ozarks. He also did the May 2015 Independent Fun Guide cover where a viewer with the proper phone app virtually walked up Spring Street.
Now Robison has gone a step farther and is involved in developing a virtual reality (VR) experiences from photographs taken in Arkansas.
“I’ve been shooting photogrammetries of a bunch of places in Arkansas,” Robison said. An award-winning photographer with 11 books to his credit, Robison talked tech. “Photogrammetry creates a three-dimensional model that can then be imported into a program so it can be viewed in a VR headset.”
Almost similar to the holodeck of Star Trek fame, in a virtual world you can see all around as though you are really there. As Robison says, “It has a real wow factor.”
An example is a photogrammetry experience of a mountain in Washington. Wearing the headset, you can see the sky above, a lake below, and bluffs. You can “jump” from one spot to another to see different views. You can pick up objects and move them around. The program is so convincing that most people who walk to the edge of the bluff are unwilling to try to step off the ledge.
“In that experience, if you did step off, you would float on air,” Robison said. “In other experiences, you fall and die in the virtual world.”
Robison is working with his son, Ethan, 15, to create a game for a virtual world.
“We’ve been learning 3D modeling programs together,” Robison said. “We both also picked up juggling and unicycling together. Unicycling helps keep me in shape. With my photography, I do a lot of backpacking, hiking and mountain biking. I need to stay in shape in order to get to the locations I photograph.”
While currently the most popular use of VR is video games, there are many other potential uses.
“I think the future of computing is going to augmented reality,” Robison said.
Robison has traveled around the world doing his photography.
“For highlights of my career, travel is probably the best part,” Robison said. “This year I’ve gone to Hawaii, and shot jobs in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Paris. I went to Colorado and New Mexico this year to photograph fall color and did some shoots in the Ozarks.”
He does a lot of work for Bass Pro Shops, including advertising photos for Big Cedar Lodge in Branson, Mo., and Dogwood Canyon near Shell Knob, Mo., He has also done projects for Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, NBC Nightly News and Sierra Club Calendars.
Great photography requires far more than good technology.
“You can technologically be good at photography and not necessarily make good photographic artwork,” Robison said. “You have to be creative with new subjects and new angles. It’s just documentation if you aren’t using an artistic eye. I think that’s where a lot of people fall short. They’re trying to capture what is in front of them instead of creating something new and innovative.”
Before he stopped shooting 4”x5” film, it took 30 minutes to set up a shot and cost $10 per piece of film. You had to be careful and deliberate.
“Digital has thrown that aside,” Robison said. “People can now take thousands of photos.”
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t take patience and sometimes luck, especially when dealing with time-lapse photography.
“Time-lapse may take five hours to get a shot, so you have to make sure the subject is good, and the light is good, or you will waste all that time,” Robison said. “Time-lapse takes lots of time and patience.”
Born and raised in Warrensburg, Mo., Robison and his family moved to Eureka Springs in 2009. Their Sacred Earth Gallery is located on US 62 near Inspiration Point, an overlook where he frequently does photography.
“This was a great choice of a place to live,” Robison said. “I don’t foresee moving anywhere else.”
When they moved from Lawrence, Kan., to Eureka Springs, they had a gallery downtown on Spring Street. Then in the 2009 ice storm, their home on Buck Mountain burned down, destroying everything include most artwork. For a while they considered getting an RV and traveling the country. But then they found a stonehouse and space for the Scared Earth Art gallery at the present location.
Robison said the gallery on US 62 has worked better than being downtown. Downtown hundreds of people walked in, but most people just wanted to talk and kill time. A small percentage bought something.
“We get way less traffic here, but a large percentage of them are buyers because they made a conscious decision to stop,” Robison said. “The pressure to sell a lot of work is less because overhead costs are far less.”
For the past two years he has been working on a couple of big art projects including 75 large art pieces, primarily of scenes in Carroll and Newton counties, for the Carroll Electric Cooperative building in Berryville. He also has completed about 40 large pieces for the Butterfield Trail Village, a retirement community in Fayetteville.
His wife, Jana, is also a successful artist who does fine art paintings in a whimsical illustrative style.
“She has been doing well this year, as well,” Robison said. “We do very different work. Her artwork always depicts people, and I don’t photograph people.”
For more information, see www.ECR3.com.
Me too
Me too
We are so thankful and proud to be a. Part of their family