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Bruce Roberts (photographer)

{{short description|American photographer and author (1930–2023)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Bruce Roberts

| image = Bruce Roberts Photographer.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Roberts in 2009

| birth_name= Bruce Stuart Roberts

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|02|04}}

| birth_place = Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2023|06|16|1930|02|04}}

| death_place = Newport, North Carolina, U.S.

| education =Bachelor of Science

| alma_mater = New York University
University of Florida

| known_for = Photography

| spouse = Cheryl Shelton-Roberts
Nancy Roberts (Ex-wife; 1958–1980s)

| awards = Southern Photographer of the Year (twice)
National Press Photographers Association News Photographers competition winner (three times)
Carl Goerch Award (first)

| website = {{URL|http://www.brucerobertsphotography.com}}

}}

Bruce Stuart Roberts (February 4, 1930 – June 16, 2023) was an American photographer and author who began his career in the 1950s. He started out as a reporter but soon moved into photography and was part of the group of photojournalists at The Charlotte Observer who pioneered the use of the 35 mm format cameras. Over the years his work has appeared in Time, Life, Sports Illustrated, and Time Life Books. Roberts was also a prolific writer, both with his first wife, Nancy Roberts and his second wife Cheryl Shelton-Roberts.

From 1978 through 1992, he worked for Southern Living magazine, first as director of photography and later as senior travel photographer. Through his work as a photographer he has depicted such significant events as the civil rights movement in the 1960s and rural health initiatives in the 1970s. In later years much of his work has been spent photographing and documenting lighthouses, a subject he has shared through several books he has either co-authored or illustrations with photographs.

Roberts and his first wife had two children, Nancy and David. They divorced in the 1980s. Their son David was the subject of their collaborative book David chronicling their experiences of raising a son with Down syndrome. Their daughter Nancy is an attorney.

Early years

Bruce Stuart Roberts was born on February 4, 1930, in the Bronx adjacent New York suburb Mount Vernon.{{cite web | url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00122/cah-00122.html | title=A Guide to the Bruce Roberts Photographic Archive, 1948-1989 | accessdate=August 2, 2016 | publisher=The University of Texas at Austin | work=Dolph Briscoe Center for American History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606062631/https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utcah/00122/cah-00122.html |archive-date=June 6, 2018}} He became interested in photography around the age of 14, and delivered newspapers to earn money for his hobby. Roberts later recalled how his money went to buying the material he would need to take and develop photographs, creating his own darkroom in the basement and taught himself about photography. He later used his photography skills to pay for his Bachelor of Science degree from New York University, taking pictures at various events such as parties and board meetings. He graduated from New York University in 1951 and joined the United States Air Force, serving from 1951 to 1953 and becoming a staff sergeant.{{Cite web|url=https://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/in_memoriam-bruce.html|title=In Memoriam-Bruce Roberts|publisher=Outer Banks Lighthouse Society}} After his stint in the Air Force Roberts attended the University of Florida where he completed his postgraduate studies in 1954.

Career

Following his postgraduate studies Roberts moved to North Carolina, taking a job as a photographer for the local Hamlet News-Messenger newspaper, in Hamlet, North Carolina, just south of Rockingham on the South Carolina border. During his early years in North Carolina his photos were published in national and international publications such as Life, Look, Time and the Saturday Evening Post.{{cite web | url=http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article10865651.html | title=Book reveals photographer's images of North Carolina's tumultuous 1950s and '60s | date=February 14, 2015 | accessdate=August 2, 2016 | first=Richard | last=Marschal | work=News & Observer}}{{cite web | url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/8/photographer-recalls-capturing-nc-in-pictures/ | title= Photographer recalls capturing NC in pictures | accessdate=August 2, 2016 | date=November 8, 2014 | first=Rachel | last=Hubber | work=The Washington Times}} Many of his photos were used on the cover of The State magazine (now known as Our State). In 1958 he was hired as a staff photographer for The Charlotte Observer newspaper, working for editor Pete McKnight as part of a group of young up-and-coming photographers. The group of Charlotte Observer photographers would be among the first to use 35 mm photography in their work, and would later be credited with being pioneers of the 35 mm camera in photojournalism as well in as the use of natural light for their photos. In 1959 and 1961, Roberts was named "Southern Photographer of the Year" for his work with the Charlotte Observer. He also took first place in the National Press Photographers Association news pictures competition in 1959, 1960 and 1961. In 1962 Roberts took the position of Director of Photography for the News Journal paper in Wilmington, Delaware, where he remained until 1963. Over time he would also take photographs of various important historical figures of the time such as Reverend Billy Graham, Elvis Presley, John F. Kennedy and Joe DiMaggio.

{{Quote|text=One day last summer, Bruce Roberts flew from his home in Charlotte to Atlanta to photograph a magazine story. Working almost nonstop for 36 hours, Roberts exposed 27 rolls of film. The end product was one superb photograph of an Atlanta policeman working in the slums. It is that kind of relentless effort that has made him one of the best in his profession. But it is also compassion, the kind of compassion that allows a parent to live and love a child who is retarded. That makes him the artist he is.”|author=Reg Murphy. Atlanta Journal and Constitution editor, 1968|source={{cite news | title=Editorial page | work=Atlanta Journal and Constitution | year=1968 | first=Reg | last=Murphy}}}}

In 1963 Roberts began to work as a freelance photographer instead of specifically for one newspaper. During this period he and his then-wife Nancy Roberts co-authored several books, including The Governor in 1972{{cite book | title=The Governor | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce|last2= Roberts | location=Charlotte, North Carolina | publisher= McNally and Loftin| year= 1972 | oclc= 417067}} and Goodliest Land in 1973.{{cite book | title= Goodliest Land | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1973 | isbn= 0-385-04302-3 | oclc= 707066 | url= https://archive.org/details/goodliestlandnor00robe }} Later they wrote books about the supernatural, releasing books such as Ghosts and Specters: Ten Supernatural Stories in 1974{{cite book | title=Ghosts and Specters: Ten Supernatural Stories | first1=Bruce | last1=Roberts | first2=Nancy | last2=Roberts | location=Garden City, New York | publisher=Doubleday | year=1974 | isbn=0-385-07231-7 | oclc=802872 | url=https://archive.org/details/ghostsspecterste00robe }} America's Most Haunted Places in 1976,{{cite book | title=America's Most Haunted Places | first1= Bruce | last1=Roberts | first2= Nancy | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1976 | isbn=0-385-09964-9 | oclc=1531988}} and Southern Ghosts in 1979.{{cite book | title= Southern Ghosts | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1979 | isbn= 0-385-12813-4 | oclc= 4884172 | url= https://archive.org/details/southernghosts00robe }} Roberts' photographs also appeared in the children's book Where Time Stood Still: A Portrait of Appalachia, which was named by The New York Times as one of the best children's books of 1970.{{cite book | title=Where Time Stood Still: A Portrait of Appalachia | first1=Nancy | last1=Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2=Roberts | publisher=Crowell-Collier Press | year=1970}}

In 1978 he became the director of photography for Southern Living magazine, a position he held until 1982. In 1982 he took on the role of senior travel photographer for the magazine, focusing on depicting the Southern United States. In 1992, after 14 years with Southern Living he left to pursue freelance photography and to focus on contributing to various books, especially books on the lighthouses of North Carolina which became his passion. In the fall of 1994, while living in Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, Roberts and his second wife Cheryl Shelton-Roberts co-founded the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society dedicated to preserving North Carolina's lighthouses and to spreading awareness about their history,{{cite web | url=http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/about-oblhs.html | title=About OBLHS | accessdate=July 29, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811182124/http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/about-oblhs.html | archive-date=August 11, 2016 | url-status=dead }} and served on its board of directors.{{cite web | url=http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/board/board-officers.html | title=Board Officers | accessdate=July 29, 2016 | publisher=Outer Banks Lighthouse Society | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160811185445/http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/board/board-officers.html | archive-date=August 11, 2016 | url-status=dead }} Starting in 1997 Roberts, working with Cheryl, published his first book on the historical lighthouses, called Lighthouse Families.{{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=1997 | title= Lighthouse Families | location=Birmingham, Alabama | publisher= Crane Hill| isbn=9781561646319}} In subsequent years the Roberts published further books on lighthouses in and around North Carolina.{{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce | last2=Yocum | first2=Thomas | last3=Shelton-Roberts | first3=Cheryl | year=1999 | title=Cape Hatteras: America's lighthouse | location=Nashville, Tennessee | publisher=Cumberland House | isbn=1581820321 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/hemingwayodyssey00lawr }}{{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=1999 | title= Moving Hatteras: Relocating the Cape Hatteras Light Station to safety | location= Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications|isbn=0967653703}}{{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2011 | title= North Carolina lighthouses: Stories of History and Hope | location= Guilford, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Peqout Press}} He would later be awarded "Keeper of the Light" award from the American Lighthouse Foundation as a result of the preservation initiatives he led through the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society. In 2001 Our State magazine awarded Roberts the first ever Carl Goerch Award, named after the magazine's founder.{{cite web | url=http://digital.ncdcr.gov/cdm/ref/collection/p16062coll18/id/72663 | title=Our State | publisher=North Carolina Digital Collections | accessdate=July 29, 2016 | quote=Photographers;Carl Goerch Award;Roberts, Bruce, 1930-;}} In a 2005 article in Lighthouse Magazine, magazine editor Tim Harrison and the magazine staff declared that Roberts was one of America's all-time best lighthouse photographers, citing his long history of capturing historical lighthouses on film.{{cite news | title=Capturing the Beauty | work=Lighthouse Digest | issue=May 2005 | editor=Harrison, Tim}} In 2010 the Outer Banks History Center (OBHC) presented an exhibit of Roberts' photographs entitled "Bruce Roberts, Photojournalist: 50 Years of Capturing Change" that featured photos from throughout his career, primarily focusing on pictures taken in North Carolina.{{cite web | url=https://ncarchives.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/summer-events-at-the-obhc/ | title=Summer Events at the OBHC | date=June 24, 2010 | publisher=History for All the People | accessdate=July 29, 2016}}

Personal life

From 1958 through the mid-1980s, Bruce Roberts was married to Nancy Roberts, a renowned author. The two met when they both worked for the Charlotte Observer and married in 1958. The couple had a daughter, Nancy, and a son, David, during their marriage. David was born with Down Syndrome. which was chronicled in Bruce and Nancy's book David, published in 1968, describing their experiences with raising a child with Down Syndrome in the 1960s.{{cite book | title=David | first1=Nancy | last1=Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2=Roberts | location=Richmond, Virginia | publisher= John Knox Press | year=1968 | oclc=437075}} They divorced in the mid-1980s with both Bruce and Nancy remarrying later on. Bruce Roberts married Cheryl Shelton, now Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, a retired schoolteacher, historian, and prolific researcher of North Carolina lighthouses, keepers’ genealogies, keepers’ families oral histories, lifesaving stations, and shipwrecks.{{cite web | url=http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/board/boardbios-roberts-roberts-chappell.html | title=Current OBLHS Board Members | accessdate=August 2, 2016 | publisher=Outer Banks Lighthouse Society | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813004709/http://www.outerbankslighthousesociety.org/board/boardbios-roberts-roberts-chappell.html | archive-date=August 13, 2016 | url-status=dead }}

Roberts died in Newport, North Carolina on June 16, 2023, at the age of 93.{{Cite web|url=https://www.noebrooks.net/obituary/Bruce-Roberts|title=Obituary for Bruce Stuart Roberts|publisher=Noe-Brooks Funeral Home and Crematory |access-date=June 24, 2023 |language=en}}

Bibliography

;Co-authored with Nancy Roberts

  • {{cite book | title=David | first1=Nancy | last1=Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2=Roberts | location=Richmond, Virginia | publisher= John Knox Press | year=1968 | oclc=437075}}
  • {{cite book | title=Where Time Stood Still: A Portrait of Appalachia | first1=Nancy | last1=Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2=Roberts | publisher=Crowell-Collier Press | year=1970}}
  • {{cite book | title=The Governor | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce|last2= Roberts | location=Charlotte, North Carolina | publisher= McNally and Loftin| year= 1972 | oclc= 417067}}
  • {{cite book | title= Goodliest Land | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1973 | isbn= 0-385-04302-3 | oclc= 707066 | url= https://archive.org/details/goodliestlandnor00robe }}
  • {{cite book | title=Ghosts and Specters: Ten Supernatural Stories | first1=Bruce | last1=Roberts | first2=Nancy | last2=Roberts | location=Garden City, New York | publisher=Doubleday | year=1974 | isbn=0-385-07231-7 | oclc=802872 | url=https://archive.org/details/ghostsspecterste00robe }}
  • {{cite book | title=America's Most Haunted Places | first1= Bruce | last1=Roberts | first2= Nancy | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1976 | isbn=0-385-09964-9 | oclc=1531988}}
  • {{cite book | title= Southern Ghosts | first1= Nancy | last1= Roberts | first2= Bruce | last2= Roberts | location= Garden City, New York | publisher= Doubleday | year= 1979 | isbn= 0-385-12813-4 | oclc= 4884172 | url= https://archive.org/details/southernghosts00robe }}

;Co-authored with Cheryl Shelton-Roberts

  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=1997 | title= Lighthouse Families | location=Birmingham, Alabama | publisher= Crane Hill| isbn=9781561646319}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce | last2=Yocum | first2=Thomas | last3=Shelton-Roberts | first3=Cheryl | year=1999 | title=Cape Hatteras: America's lighthouse | location=Nashville, Tennessee | publisher=Cumberland House | isbn=1581820321 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/hemingwayodyssey00lawr }}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=1999 | title= Moving Hatteras: Relocating the Cape Hatteras Light Station to safety | location= Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications|isbn=0967653703}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce | year=2004 | title= North Carolina lighthouses: A tribute of history and hope | location=Greensboro, North Carolina | publisher= Our State Books}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2005 | title= North Carolina Lighthouses: A Guidebook For All Existing North Carolina | location=Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications|asin=B00MO0DMJK}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2005 | title= Cape Lookout National Seashore: Exploring the History and Wild Coastal Beauty| location= Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce| last3=Branch | first3=P |year=2006 | title= Fort Macon State Park: An illustrated guidebook | location=Morehead City North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2009 | title= Illustrated Timeline of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse| publisher=Lighthouse Publications |isbn=978-0972998123}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2011 | title= North Carolina lighthouses: Stories of History and Hope | location= Guilford, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Peqout Press}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce |last2=Shelton-Roberts | first2=Cheryl | last3=Jones | first3=Ray |year=2012 | title= American lighthouses: A Comprehensive Guide to Exploring our National Coastal Treasures | location= Guilford, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Pequot Press|isbn=978-0-7627-7960-4}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Shelton-Roberts | first1=Cheryl | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce | title= Bodie Island Lighthouse: Its History and Restoration| location=Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications}}

;Other books

  • {{cite book | last1=Jones | first1=Ray | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=1996 | title= Mid-Atlantic lighthouses: Hudson River to Chesapeake Bay | location=Old Saybrook, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Pequot Press|isbn=0-7627-3042-0}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Butterworth-McKittrick | first1=Norma E. | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2001 | title= Cape Henry, First Landing: First United States lighthouse | location= Morehead City, North Carolina | publisher= Lighthouse Publications}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce | last2=Jones | first2=Ray |year=2002 | title= Southern lighthouses: Outer Banks to Cape Florida| location= Guilford, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Pequot Press|isbn=0-7627-1243-0}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce | last2=Jones | first2=Ray |year=2002 | title= American lighthouses: A definitive guide | url=https://archive.org/details/americanlighthou0000robe | url-access=registration | location= Guilford, Connecticut | publisher= Globe Pequot Press}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Clunies | first1=Sandra MacLean | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2002 | title= Pirates of the Southern Coast: Including the Infamous Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, "Black Sam" Bellamy, "Calico Jack" Rackham, Charles Vane, Mary Read, Anne Bonny | url=https://archive.org/details/piratesofsouther0000clun | url-access=registration | location=Morehead City, North Carolina| publisher= Lighthouse Publications|isbn=0967653762}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Butterworth-McKittrick | first1=Norma E. | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2013 | title= Lighthouse Ghosts and Carolina Coastal Legends| publisher=Pineapple Press, Incorporated |isbn=978-1561646012}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Butterworth-McKittrick, Norma E. | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2014 | title= Shipwrecks: Disasters and rescues of the Graveyard of the Atlantic and Cape Fear}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Roberts | first1=Bruce |year=2014 | title= Just yesterday in North Carolina. | publisher= Pineapple Press}}{{cite web | url=http://m.salisburypost.com/2008/10/31/bruce-roberts-has-new-book-of-photographs/ | title=Bruce Roberts has new book of photographs | date=October 31, 2008 |work=Salisbury Post | accessdate=August 2, 2016}}
  • {{cite book | last1=Stick | first1=David | last2=Roberts | first2=Bruce |year=2014 | title= Just yesterday on the Outer Banks | publisher= Pineapple Press|isbn=978-1561646999}}

References

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{{Portal bar|Biography|Journalism|United States}}

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Category:1930 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:20th-century American photographers

Category:21st-century American photographers

Category:American portrait photographers

Category:People from Mount Vernon, New York

Category:Photographers from North Carolina

Category:New York University alumni

Category:United States Air Force non-commissioned officers

Category:University of Florida alumni