Robin Hood | Legendary Photographer

Robin Hood, Photo: Anthony Scarlati

Robin Hood, Photo: Anthony Scarlati

“Photography is all about perception,” claims Nashville photographer Robin Hood. “What does the photographer bring to the equation without all of the equipment?” Hood believes that in the art of photography the eye is more important than the camera. “I approach every subject with the eye of a painter.” Hood studied painting at the University of Chattanooga and enlisted in the army upon graduation. “I first really touched a camera in Vietnam…I had never had a photography class. In fact, I have never had one yet.”

Returning from the war, Hood began a career in photojournalism. He won a Pulitzer Prize while working for the Chattanooga Free Press. Hood attempts to bring the theatrical light of his favorite artists, like Caravaggio and La Tour to his work by using one-source natural lighting. He continues to find new opportunities to capture his unique vision of the world.

Robin Hood is president of Grandin Hood Publishers.

Photo by Robin Hood

The mother and daughter gathering tomatoes in the mist-enshrouded garden of John Rice Irwin were originally photographed for a Cracker Barrel television commercial.

Fishing at midnight—Summit Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

Fishing at midnight—Summit Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

While in Hawaii photographing an ad campaign for Del Monte, we asked these ladies to arrive at their high-elevation pineapple fields at 5 a.m. the following day so that we might photograph them illuminated by the first light of day breaking over the Pacific Ocean.

While in Hawaii photographing an ad campaign for Del Monte, we asked these ladies to arrive at their high-elevation pineapple fields at 5 a.m. the following day so that we might photograph them illuminated by the first light of day breaking over the Pacific Ocean.

Traditional dancer of the centuries-old Gion Festival in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

Traditional dancer of the centuries-old Gion Festival in Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.

These wranglers are illuminated by golden, end-of-day rails of sunlight playing through dust stirred by the herd of yearling horses they had just corralled.

These wranglers are illuminated by golden, end-of-day rails of sunlight playing through dust stirred by the herd of yearling horses they had just corralled.

Fishing at midnight—Summit Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

Fishing at midnight—Summit Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

With a definite vision of Marcel Duchamp in mind, I mounted a 50-foot American flag on a nearby barn for an abstract reflection framing Leiper’s Fork resident Bruce Hunt—good friend, ad man, horse wrangler, dog trainer, and teller of tall tales.

With a definite vision of Marcel Duchamp in mind, I mounted a 50-foot American flag on a nearby barn for an abstract reflection framing Leiper’s Fork resident Bruce Hunt—good friend, ad man, horse wrangler, dog trainer, and teller of tall tales.

The Raven Dancer of the Tlingit Native American tribe was photographed on an island outside Juneau, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

The Raven Dancer of the Tlingit Native American tribe was photographed on an island outside Juneau, Alaska, for the Alaska Tourism advertising campaign.

I stood in knee-deep snow and below 20 temperatures for two hours waiting to capture this passing sleigh for the cover of The Greenbrier Magazine. The snow-covered fields are actually the slumbering fairways of the famous Old White Golf Course, and my camera position is on the signature No. 1 Tee.

I stood in knee-deep snow and below 20 temperatures for two hours waiting to capture this passing sleigh for the cover of The Greenbrier Magazine. The snow-covered fields are actually the slumbering fairways of the famous Old White Golf Course, and my camera position is on the signature No. 1 Tee.

Legendary musician and folk interpreter Carlock Stooksbury in the smokehouse of John Rice Irwin, for the cover of the Tennessee Farm Bureau book Tennessee Country.

Legendary musician and folk interpreter Carlock Stooksbury in the smokehouse of John Rice Irwin, for the cover of the Tennessee Farm Bureau book Tennessee Country.