Robert T. Reid Photography

I currently live on James Island with my kids and some cats. After graduating from college in 1987 with a degree in sociology I naturally went into the construction trades and became a carpenter. After nearly twenty years of working on custom homes and cabinetry, and the dissolution of a poorly-matched marriage, I had what I cheerfully call my "mid-life crisis". Not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life I ran a handy-man service for a couple of years.

Meanwhile I had gone through a succession of compact digital cameras, upgrading as the technology advanced and I wore cameras out. I used them hard - taking them to the jobsite (to document work and as a timeclock) and through the Okeefenokee Swamp, to the beach at Pawleys and whitewater rafting down the Nantahala with the kids. They got dropped and damp often enough that I can say that, at least for the Olympus models, they're not quite as delicate as people might think. They do have limits, though.

I ended up with an Olympus C7000 Zoom that did quite well at everything except low-light situations without flash, such as a live music show. Since that was a significant bother to me I wasn't too unhappy when the C7000 began to malfunction (I'd used the heck out of it, and the lens extension mechanism got balky) and when it was stolen two days later I almost had to laugh. So I ended up without a digital camera right in the middle of seriously pondering which direction to go with my life.

The next week, on Sunday, October 14th, 2006, I drove over to Athens, Georgia, to see David Gans at the Vassar Clements DVD release party. It was a great show and I was blown away by the CodeTalkers, the trio that formed the core of the Vassar Clements Holiday Band. I took along two film cameras, one for color and one for black and white. That Thursday, back in Charleston, I drove past the Pour House and saw the CodeTalkers were playing that night, so I went.

Since I knew David Gans (two of his shows were the only times I'd been to the Pour House before) and a couple of other people playing the show in Athens, I had hung out in the green room there and met the guys in the CodeTalkers. At the show in Charleston, I brought along the pics from Athens in the off chance that I could show them to the band. I happened to catch them in the parking lot before the show, they liked the pics, and we ended up hanging out long enough that the show started late and they ended up playing a shorter than usual show.

Within the next couple of weeks I had acquired a Canon 5D and started the process of going back to school at Trident Technical College. I also started taking pics regularly at the Pour House and have met a bunch of fine people there. I started classes at TTC in the spring term of 2007 and have also met a bunch of fine people there, some of them the same as the ones at the Pour House.

And here I am.

Education

• 2007-present Trident Technical College, Photography Certificate program
• 1982-1987 Furman University, BA, Sociology
• 1977-1982 Gordon H. Garrett High School

Computer Skills

• Adobe Lightroom
• Adobe Photoshop CS2/CS3
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
• PC or Mac

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