Richard H. Rohlfing

Bio featuring Richard, December 27, 2009 Richard Rohlfing has been exercising his shutter finger since at least 1974 when he traded his old CB radio for a Yashica twin lens reflex. What an awakening! The following year he won 1st place at the Illinois state fair with a portrait of a neighbor's young daughter. This was an early sign that his wonderful people skills would enable him to be an excellent, teacher and business owner as well. Up until 2001 Richard felt that digital photography was CHEATING! That is until he compared the quality of film and digital images. Since then the Rolfings have plunged headlong into the digital world and are excited to see the digital revolution unfold as camera manufacturers and photographers alike continue to push it to its limit. On a recent assignment to copy a 30 foot mural, they first used 4x5 color transparency film but later had to switch to multiple exposures with a digital camera to produce the desired results. Their assignments have been varied and fascinating. Your camera can take you places you would not otherwise go, as you already know. Together they have photographed the design and manufacturing of deep sea robots, replacement knee joints, aircraft parts, chemicals, black boxes, and theme park dinosaurs. On a tamer scale, their subjects have included historic Maryland quilts for a book, restored carousel animals, and championship ring jousting tournaments. Evidence of Richard's skills as an engaging and successful portrait photographer are the many headshot and production photos he has done for local theaters, especially Colonial Players in Annapolis and Bowie Community Theater. Recently he and Ann have been photographing the activities and native plants of the Adkins Arboretum, and gathering images for the Queen Anne's County Conservation Association. Both Richard and Ann have won recognition for their photographic efforts in local and regional competitions and exhibitions. They have presented "one man - and one woman" shows at the Patuxent National Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, and Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, and at the old Cap Center in Largo. They have given travel and instructional programs to numerous camera clubs and organizations Richard was a photographer - Courtesy of Jeffrey Rohlfing He was a tall, good looking man who never met a stranger. Gregarious and kind, people were naturally drawn to him and he to them. Although he was not one to seek out leadership roles, nor was he comfortable in them, preferring to capture people and events from the sidelines (he was, after all, a photographer) his very presence and approachability frequently found people following him. He was raised in the country and never lost his rural soul, often preferring remote destinations and simple people to the trappings and pretense of the city. That's not to say that the things of man, especially the architecture, did not inspire him. He could see the essence of a thing and, through his lens, display it to the world. His creative eye and personal perspective could, and regularly did, find as much beauty in the lines of a modern office building as in a whale sounding in the North Atlantic or the forests and mountains of Yellowstone National Park. Richard was a photographer. He delighted in the effect his images had on people and would often give away his photos to those who where moved by them. An active member of local and national camera clubs, he would donate his time and talent to community groups photographing events for the Bowie Senior Chorale, community theaters, and All Saints Lutheran Church. Richard was a photographer. A camera is a device that gives an accounting of the visible world. It uses the spectrum of light to describe what is seen. But a camera can only record an image; cold and accurate. It needs an artist to give it life. Richard was that artist. He could, and did, using light and shadow and perspective, show the hidden soul of a building, a person, an eagle, a flower, or a stick on the beach. In his photographs one does not just see but can hear the silence of a foggy seashore or the rising symphony that is sunrise over a mountain. Through his images you can taste the salt of the ocean and the spray of a river. The smell of the forest in the dew of morning is captured and shared so vividly it makes it easy to forget that these images are on paper and not an open window to the world, as real as any tactile experience can be. In Ann, Richard found a kindred spirit. Photography not only brought them together, but it became the lifeblood of their relationship. Myriad journeys to photograph the world resulted in a body of work that reflects their life together. Each component is beautiful and sturdy on its own, but, when combined, as they always have been, creates a powerful and awe-inspiring display that is exactly as it should be; one complementing the other. His most cherished images, his dearest memories were of his children. Quietly proud of them all, he delighted in the people they have become. Each reflects the creativity of their father. The places of honor in his heart and on the walls of his home always belonged to them. His legacy remains in each breath taken by his sisters: Diana and Elaine; his nieces and nephews: Bradley, Jason, Corey, Jennifer, Jeremy, David and Sara; his grand children: Sophia, Jonah, Malcolm, Alexandra, Karina, Viviana, Niccole and Jon-Paul; his children: Alexander, Jeffrey, Catherine and Nicholas; his dear wife, Ann, and every person privileged enough to experience his photographs. Richard was a photographer.