Biography
Richard A. Vroom
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Richard Vroom is a native Montrealer. His
family comes from a long legacy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Vrooms
left the Netherlands in 1612 heading for New York, and ended up in Nova
Scotia in the 1700's, near Annapolis Royal. Around 1900, the Vroom brothers
were cabinetmakers in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. In 2001, Richard moved back
to his roots in Nova Scotia, settling in Lunenburg and Mahone Bay. In the 60's, Richard graduated from the
University of New Brunswick in Fine Arts. His love for photography began at
University and developed along with his travels through Europe, where he
wrote a weekly newspaper column on his travels. He spent many years in Ottawa
working with the National Film Board of Canada, studying other photographers'
works. It was in Ottawa, that he met Yousef and Malak Karsh, two of Canada's
most famous photographers. Yousef Karsh invited Richard to bring his work
into their studio once a month and they would discuss the direction that he
was taking with his photography. This continued for about two years. It was
not long before the NFB was buying his work for their books and exhibitions. A big break occurred in 1970, when the
National Film Board of Canada asked him to go to Japan for 6 months, to cover
Expo 70. In Osaka, he lived with a family of photographers that did not speak
a word of English. Together they worked in central Japan, covering many
aspects of Japanese life. After the work in Japan was complete, Richard had
other assignments to travel around the world working on educational
filmstrips for schools in Canada. From Japan, he went to Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Singapore, Bali, Thailand, then he climbed the Himalayas of Nepal for 2 ½
months alone. Then on he went for a few weeks into Afghanistan before
returning back to Canada. In Ottawa, he built his own colour-processing lab
to handle his own film processing and printing, as well as doing special
printing for professional photographers in Ottawa. It was not long before the
lab was printing exhibitions for the National Film Board of Canada. Upon returning to Canada in 1971, the Readers
Digest of Canada commissioned him to work on one of their first major books
on Canada called "Explore Canada". This led to four more
books for Readers Digest. At the same time, he began working more with
Lorraine Monk, on NFB books, such as the book called "Canada",
given to Queen Elizabeth. Then the NFB hired him to do aerial photography for
their book to commemorate the American Bicentenary. This major coffee table
book was called "Between Friends". In 1977, he began
producing books of his own such as "Cabinet Makers of the Eastern
Seaboard" and working with Charles Foss of King's Landing,
Fredericton. The same year, he began researching for the "New
Brunswick, A Victorian Portrait", which was a compilation of early
photography on New Brunswick from about 1880 to 1920. At the same time, he
was researching his own family history in New Brunswick. In 1978, the Department of Foreign Affairs
hired Richard to run their photographic section, which he did for 6 years.
This involved both taking photographs of Heads of State visits to Canada, as
well as hiring Canadian photographers to photograph Canada, from the Arts to
Industrial. He photographed the visits of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, as
well as those of Queen Elizabeth and Ronald Reagan. He was also involved in
production of exhibitions of photography on Canada for the embassies around
the world. Over 60,000 of his images are currently in the National Archives
of Canada. In 1984, Dick Miller, owner of Miller Services
Limited, one of Canada's largest stock photo agencies and agent for Richard's
photographs, passed away. He was asked if he would be interested to buy the
company and did in fact buy it outright. With over a million stock colour photos
and half a million black and white photos, Miller Services began to grow.
Within 3 years, it tripled in size and eventually was bought out by Comstock
in New York. With the advent of new computer technology, it
is now possible to scan the best of Richard's work and to produce prints of
far better quality than using a photographic process. The printer, sprays
pigmented inks digitally in the image of the photographs on archival paper or
canvas, giving a much more more permanent image than ever before. He has now
photographed in 56 countries around the world. At the present time, he has
been working on capturing some of his favourite areas in the Maritime
Provinces of Canada. In the last year, he has worked for Nova Scotia Tourism,
as well as working on magazine articles for "Readers Digest" and
"Our Canada" magazine. Richard Vroom Photography Published in the
Following Books: 1971 In Search of Canada - Reader's Digest,
Montreal 1973 Canada - National Film Board of Canada 1973 Explore Canada - Reader's Digest,
Montreal 1976 Scenic Wonders of Canada - Reader's
Digest, Montreal 1976 Canada - Gage Publishing, Toronto 1976 The Land That Never Melts - Peter Martin
Assoc. Ltd. Toronto 1976 Between Friends - National Film Board of
Canada 1977 Spirit of Canada - Jonathan James Books,
Toronto *1977 Cabinetmakers of the Eastern Seaboard -
M.F. Feheley Publishers, Toronto (Co-author and photographer) 1977 This Land, These People - Gage
Publishing, Toronto 1978 The Heritage of Canada - Reader's Digest,
Montreal 1975 - 1978 Canada Handbook - Statistics
Canada, Ottawa 1979 Canadian Book of the Road - Reader's
Digest, Montreal *1979 Old New Brunswick, A Victorian Portrait
- Oxford Press *1980 Ottawa, A Pictorial Salute - Deneau
Publishers, Ottawa (author, editor and photographer) 1982 Canada, A Landscape Portrait - Hurtig
Publishers, Edmonton 1983 Saskatchewan - Whitecap Books, Vancouver,
B.C. 1983 Constitution 1982 - Secretary of State of
Canada 1984 Coastal Canada - Key Porter Publishers,
Toronto 1984 Historic Canada - Key Porter Publishers,
Toronto * These books were conceived and produced for
publishers on a royalty basis. Exhibitions of Personal Work 1969 Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Stable
Gallery (Show of 20 black & white prints) 1969 Image 6, National Film Board of Canada 1973 Canada (based on book give to the Queen),
National Film Board of Canada 1973 From an Icicle, I Made Winter, National
Film Board of Canada 1975 Trade Fair in Peking, China. I produced
and exhibition of photography on Canada for External Affairs which included
some of my own work. 2006 The Old Blacksmith Shop Art Gallery,
Lunenburg, NS. Exhibition of Maritime photos on canvas. |
