Barry
W. Hollritt was
born in Paterson, New Jersey. His first photographs were taken with a Brownie
box camera that his parents let him use while staying at the Jersey shore.
Little was he to know that those first New Jersey seascapes would be followed
years later with landscapes, seascapes and other vistas from around the world.
It wasn’t until his college
days that Barry first found photography to be in his soul. Studying European
and British literature, he graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University, New
Jersey’s largest private university, with a degree in literature. However,
while studying W.B.Yeats and Shakespeare at Wroxton College in Oxfordshire,
England, Barry found the camera to be his true calling. Barry sold his first
photographs of the English countryside to appreciative patrons in 1974.
Beginning in 1976, he was
employed by a now defunct international charter airline that took him to locales
all over North America, the Middle East and Europe on a regular basis. Always
carrying his beloved 35mm Topcon camera, first purchased in 1974, Barry began
amassing a wonderful portfolio of faces and places that created the foundation
for his future work.
Emulating one of his
inspirations, the poet William Carlos Williams, who was a doctor by day and a
poet by night, Barry continued to be employed as a steward in the airline
industry, and later, as Marketing and Business Development Manager for Toshiba
America for 13 years. By day, a successful corporate manager, by weekend and
night he became a landscape, waterfowl, and nature photographer.
In 1981, Barry spent a year
studying photographic science at one of the most prestigious photographic
schools in the United States, the Rochester Institute of Technology located in
Rochester, New York.
In 1988, Barry started
exhibiting his work at local art shows and began receiving recognition and
awards for his landscape and nature photographs. His first exhibit that year
achieved a first-place ribbon in Photography for one image entitled “Aircraft
over the Alps,” an image he refers to as an “airscape” that is still exhibited
today.
Moving to a small New Jersey
lakeside community in 1991, Barry truly developed a passion for waterfowl,
especially the beloved swans that have become one of his trademarks.
Following in the tradition of Peter Scott, the famed naturalist and waterfowl
painter, Barry began concentrating on capturing images that go beyond the realm
of photographs and approach what he refers to as “photographic artwork”.
In 2006, Barry moved to
Cincinnati, Ohio where he continues to follow his passion of bird and travel
photography, utilizing both using vintage 2 1/4 medium
format cameras and state of the art digital photography to convey what his eye
sees as he wanders the world. Barry is constantly aware of the fine line
between his own eye and photography’s technical aspect.
"MY IDEA IS TO KEEP THE TECHNICAL
ASPECT OF PHOTOGRAPHY AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE, BUT NEVER TO FORGET TO BE PREPARED
FOR ANY SITUATION THAT MAY ARISE. A GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER MUST BE READY FOR THAT
ONE INSTANT WHEN THE PERFECT IMAGE MAY PRESENT ITSELF. BEING THERE IS HALF THE
BATTLE, THE OTHER HALF IS TO BE PREPARED!"
A lifetime member of the
Trumpeter Swan Society, Barry continues to support efforts toward conservation
and preservation of the wildlife he so adores and photographs. In 2000, one of
Barry’s noted images, “Peacock”, received Best in Show at the prestigious
Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland. In May 2002, “Golden Doorway”
received Honorable Mention in the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
“Images 2002” gallery exhibition in State College, Pennsylvania. In
September of 2002, Barry received awards for both “Nurturing the Newborn”
and “Anglers in the Mist” at the well-known “Wings n’ Water”
wildlife exhibition in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. In 2003, Barry has appeared as
a guest host on the live “Shop at Home” national television network and
also received the “Best in Show” award for “Anglers in the Mist” at two
prestigious Art and Wildlife shows, the 3rd annual Chester, NJ
Fine Art Show in northern New Jersey, and the Waterfowl Festival in
Easton, Maryland, one of the largest wildlife and waterfowl venues in the
country. “Nurturing the Newborn” won Best in Show in Professional
Photography in May, 2004 at the prestigious “Somerset County Carving and
Wildlife” show in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.
Today, Barry is concentrating
on growing his portfolio of Chinese, European, British and American landscapes
while working to expand his presence within the corporate fine-art marketplace
and the art and photography world of New York City and beyond. Visit Barry on
the World Wide Web at PhotosByBarry.com or email him at photosbybarry@yahoo.com.