Dick Herman

When I was eleven I was gifted my father’s Leica Camera; also an old Enlarger. Soon thereafter, photography became a serious hobby. I built a darkroom in my home with a friend and learned how to develop 35 mm negatives. A few years later, I became a master in the darkroom making gorgeous black & white enlargements.

During college I took a News Assistant job at the New York Times. While working there, I would occasionally get free press passes to events, one of which was the 1970 fight between Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry at the Municipal Auditorium in Atlanta. It was at that fight that I photographed Muhammad Ali being interviewed by Tom Harmon.

When the High Museum of Art acquired a 16X20 Silver Gelatin Print of this photograph for their Permanent Collection, it confirmed my suspicion that I had a future in photography; I left the Times, moved to Atlanta and became a portrait photographer. From 1971–1981, I developed a reputation for my candid, black & white portraits of children.

My Journey As A Photographer

In 1981, I left Atlanta to pursue a career in the real estate and construction business. I founded Richard Construction Company and later, with a partner, founded Top Hat Home Services, a multi-million dollar handyman maintenance business. Photography was always a hobby over the years and in the past decade, however, I’ve grown significantly more invested in this hobby, concentrating my attention on photography once again. My interests have shifted from portrait work to landscapes and objects, with a particular focus in finding the beauty in all that is industrial, quotidian and too often overlooked.