My photography career began in 1970 when I borrowed a camera to take with me to a job at a salmon cannery in Egekik, Alaska. Encouraged by my results I took a photography course from UC extension where I learned the basics of exposure and darkroom development. My first show (Split Images) was at the UC extension art gallery and was inspired by a suggestion from the instructor to explore the creation of images that arose from overlapping exposures, hence the name split images.
My 2nd show was portrait themed and grew out of my association with a number of photographers who worked out of the UC Berkeley darkrooms and its small exhibition space. My third show was also a group exhibition in Berkeley: “River Nudes”. In 1976 I presented at a group show: “New and Different: Young Photographers Making Their Mark” at The Photographers Place in Los Angeles. In 1979 I had my first solo exhibition: “Near and Far” at the Cafe Roma in Berkeley.
My photographic career took a turn when I lived in Chicago from 1984 to 1989. Instead of being a hobby and focusing on Art, I started taking jobs as a commercial photographer. I shot fashion, event, editorial, travel, journalism, portrait, advertising brochures, mailers, etc. etc.
In 1993 after moving to Rochester and taking an advanced darkroom workshop led by John Sexton, I presented “Watersong” at the Oxford Gallery, a series of images taken in the gorges of the Finger Lakes.
In 2016 I exhibited my work at the exhibition space of the Canandaigua National Bank. “Lost in Landscape” featured work from the Finger Lakes, California (seascapes) and from southern Utah (Valley of the Gods).
In 2017 I started living in San Mateo, CA and have created additional work on the Pacific Coast and the numerous hiking trails in the Bay Area.
Since 2019 I have exhibited in numerous galleries and museums. My favorite places are The New Britain Museum of American Art (twice), Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts (thrice), International Photography Hall Of Fame Museum (twice), Image City in Rochester, New York, Morean Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Art Works Downtown in San Rafael, Vestige gallery in Pittsburgh, TAG gallery in Los Angeles, and the Canandaigua Bank Gallery in Rochester.
I would say my major influences are Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and way too many painters from Bierstadt, Turner, Monet, Hiroshige and VanGogh to abstract artists such as Pollock, Frankenthaler and Rothko.
rustamtahir.myportfolio.com is my showcase website, although I also have a presence on Flickr and 500px. My oeuvre is extensive and varied; and currently I am seeking a site that I can exhibit my current work “Upon The Water”. “Upon the Water” features the interplay of weather and light upon Lake Michigan.
You can email me directly: rustamtahir@mac.com
Or text:5857290811
