Richard Sprott, APSA

Dick has a Certificate in Photography from Montgomery College. He served as the President of the NIH Camera Club twice, and holds its Master of Photography rating. He taught four courses in photography for the FAES on the NIH campus for 15 years..

His photographic “philosophy” is based on the fact that he has always been a visual responder. Throughout his career as a ‘bench scientist’ he was only able to understand data after he converted it to graphic form. Tables of numbers did nothing for him. As a scientist, he derived his greatest satisfaction from creating order out of complexity. In his next career as a scientific administrator, he found satisfaction by solving complex problems with many of the same skills he used in the laboratory. But how does one ‘see’ an elegant administrative result?

The creation of a fine picture requires the same compulsive skills that are required in the lab, and the same organizing vision to create the image as is required when solving other complex problems. It also requires that the maker put some real part of him or herself into the image. As a bonus, the end product is visible to oneself and to others. Success or failure is there for everyone.