CANVAS
VOLUME 1, 2017
THE DECISIVE MOMENT
BOB CAREY
B Y K E L LY VA U G H N
BOB CAREY
THE DECISIVE MOMENT
Bob Carey is a commercial photographer based New York City, and has operated a successful studio for over 20 years.
Carey walked to the edge of Niagara Falls and looked over
In 2002, as part of a new project exploring stereotypes and transformation, Bob began photographing himself in a pink tutu. When his wife, Linda, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003, the project took on a different meaning. It became a powerful tool for selftherapy; expressing vulnerability, isolation, and humor. Carey’s wife shared them with other patients, bringing laughter and levity into their chemotherapy treatments. This shared laughter became the inspiration for the couple to self-publish a book of the images, Ballerina, and begin raising funds for those living with breast cancer. This body of images, known as The Tutu Project, went viral in 2012 and has since been entertaining people around the world.
water roaring over the falls. Every second.
Bob’s work is in the permanent collections of Katherine K. Herberger College of the Arts at Arizona State Museum and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts. He has enjoyed solo exhibitions at Gallerie Callu Merite in Paris, Chiaroscuro Gallery in Santa Fe, Trinity Gallery in Atlanta, Udinotti Gallery in Scottsdale, and June Bateman Gallery in New York City. To see more of his work visit bobcarey.com. To learn more about the TuTu Project visit thetutuproject.com.
the edge. There was a sheer drop, a precipice of rock and — of course — water. Three thousand, one hundred sixty tons of It was 5:30 a.m. Still, Carey climbed atop a pedestal and balanced, facing the chasm. The shutter on the camera clicked. The decisive moment. He was shirtless, shoeless. But he wore a pink tutu. The photograph he made that day is Carey’s favorite from the Tutu Project, his five-year-long endeavor to raise awareness about breast cancer, as well as raise funds for women, men and their families to ease the financial burdens that come with a breast cancer diagnosis. It all started as a sort of self–therapy project for Carey — even completely unrelated to or inspired by cancer. Putting on a tutu was an extension of the self-transformation Carey had always practiced.
“
THE IMAGES MADE THEM FEEL LESS VULNERABLE AND LONELY.
”
“I had always photographed myself in weird positions,
he traveled, he took the tutu.
hanging upside down, more,” he says. “But this actually
Some situations were mellow, slow interactions with
started as a project for Ballet Arizona, who asked me
the environment — among redwood trees in California,
to come up with my interpretation of ballet. I had
standing on a rock in the Arizona desert. Others were
been doing black and white photography and just
precarious — once, he and a morning news producer
wanted to do something different, so I had my step-
traversed the Long Island Expressway to get a shot.
mom make a pink tutu and started photographing myself wearing it.”
And then came Niagara Falls.
“Linda would always say, ‘Don’t do anything dangerous,
But then Carey’s wife, Linda, was diagnosed with a very
please,’” he says. “I climbed that [pedestal] three times.
aggressive form of breast cancer in 2003. She beat it.
It’s small. And when I got in the car, I asked myself
Then she beat it again. And again. She still battles it.
what that was all about — why would anyone want to do that.”
That pink tutu became a way for Bob Carey to channel his energy elsewhere. So he made photographs in
He continues to want to make photographs that
Monument Valley. In Central Park. In Greece. Anywhere
challenge the norm.
LOOKING EAST
On prom night of his senior year in high school, Bob Carey found the best skateboarding pool in Phoenix and rode it. No tuxedo. No corsage. It was an act of solitude, a movement against the usual. “I was raised to be an entrepreneur,” Carey remembers. “My dad was a welder, so he taught me how to weld. When I had $300 in the bank, he took me to buy a camera.” And the evolution began. “I just knew it was magic,” he says. “It was an easy hook.” He took classes at Scottsdale Community College. He worked for local photographers. He went to Arizona State University for a degree in art-photography. Then, he started getting some commercial work, first assisting other photographers and later venturing out on his own. Alone, he’d photograph himself in his bathroom mirror, his face, his head wrapped in fishing line. Film. Silver prints. The look of a Christmas ham right out of the package. The images were dark, unnerving, maybe even a little hard to look at. But they were his, and some of them will hang at Fiat Lux.
After 11 years running his own Tempe studio with Linda, they packed everything they owned into a 25foot truck, loaded up their dogs and drove the 2,422 miles to Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Carey was 42. “For me, photography was it,” he says. “It was the only thing I wanted to do, and I wanted to be around the people in New York. I didn’t want to die knowing that I didn’t do it.” Eight months later, Linda was diagnosed. She had surgery, began treatment. Still, every month, Carey would fly back to Phoenix to maintain some of his commercial clients. “I felt vulnerable and alone, even though I had friends,” he remembers. “It was hard to hang out. So, I started making more of the tutu photographs, especially after Linda’s surgery.”
Still, he talked about it. He met people. He networked.
THE PROJECT
In 2012, he became friends with a producer from NBC’s Today show whose girlfriend had cancer. Not long afterward, Carey sat with Matt Lauer and Natalie
Not long after, Carey’s father died, and when he and
Morales and talked about the Tutu Project on air for
Linda returned home from the funeral, he had made a
seven minutes and 20 seconds.
decision. Carey’s pink tutu went viral. “I told Linda, ‘Let’s go on a road trip,’” he says. “We
The project’s social media following leapt. Donations
packed up the dog and we went to Atlantic City.”
started pouring in.
Of course, he had the tutu. So, he pulled onto the
“It was so surreal,” Carey says. “After nine years of
off-ramp for the Borgata and made a photograph. Five
the hardest thing we’d ever done in our lives, that
police cars appeared. And rather than ticketing Carey,
happened. It can only happen in New York.”
the officers asked for a photograph. Corporate sponsorships and the sale of prints The series grew and — even back then — it was starting
helped fund a book, calendars and more. Proceeds
to resonate with other people, too. Linda shared the
finance assistance programs for families struggling
photographs with other patients in treatment.
with breast cancer.
“They related to the photographs,”
“Linda not only does all the work, but she’ll talk to
Carey remembers. “The images made them feel less
anyone on the phone who needs help,” Carey says.
vulnerable and lonely.”
“She’ll talk to people overseas, anywhere.”
And that’s when Bob Carey’s pink tutu became a symbol of hope. His mind started racing. In 2007, the Careys were close to a book deal that was ultimately hindered by the stock market crash, which had a ripple effect among publishers nationwide.
INTO THE NEXT As with any long-term project, the Careys wonder what impact the series will have for years to come. We’re learning to always look at what kind of difference we might be making,” Carey says. And, the photographer is focused on new projects, as well. “I’m trying to figure out what to do now,” he says. “What is it that I want to do? I’m still producing work for the Tutu Project. I have new work for this exhibition. Still, it’s really important for me to continue to shoot as much as I can and stay focused on my passion, which is staying true to myself, especially with social media and everything.” Indeed, social media has changed the photographic landscape recently. Anyone with a smartphone can shoot and post within seconds — leaving little time for a focus on composition, lighting, all of the things that professional photographers hold close to their creative spirits Point. Click. Post. Feel emboldened by the likes and comments and shares. It is, essentially, a double-edged sword. Engender a passion for photography. Ignore the craft’s rich history and technical depth.
“Photography is a gift, and I’m really excited that people get to experience that magic because of the technology,” Carey says. “On the other hand, I think it’s really important for people to understand why the magic happens. It’s important to teach people how to use film, to use analog ways first. You have to use your hands. I use this as a standard with my assistants. You have to show yourself and me that your brain can think in different ways. In a lot of ways, photography is about problem solving.” So Carey will put his energy there, as well as in the direction of preserving his craft. And, of course, making his portraits. “You have to make sure that everything is tight,” Carey says. “You build a portrait like a house, from the inside out. I take so much pride in knowing where the light needs to come from.”
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