Welcome to Robert Dean Photo Arts and thank you for visiting my site! I specialize in unique and authentic wedding, portrait, event, product, real estate and underwater photography, and am located in Havertown, PA, the near western-suburbs of Philadelphia.

Looking back, my interest started at about age 13 when my science-oriented friend and I for fun started making contact prints from a kit, in his closet. My father, an aeronautical engineer and well-known author of aviation history books had begun collecting historic photos of aircraft as a boy. At some point he started a darkroom in our basement, where he would make copy photos of historic airplane pictures. I would go with him to air shows and we would shoot the displays. When he passed away in 2001 he had written five books complete with his photos and our family donated his historic collection to the Smithsonian.

My formal training started in college in Fine Art Photography in Lancaster, PA using large-format black and white film (4x5, 8x10) and the Zone System. I studied the great American Masters of 20th-Century Art, Commercial, Fashion and Journalistic styles of Ansel Adams, Minor White, Edward Weston, Paul Strand, Edward Steichen, Alfred Steiglitz, Richard Avedon, Jerry Uelsmann and others. I acquired a 35mm Pentax and a Koni-Omega Rapid M (wedding camera), and passionately pursued my interest. I won a college competition judged by Jamie Wyeth, and later became the college's official PR event photographer while still a student which also provided me access to the school's Hasselblad, two Nikon-Fs and use of their dark room. On Saturdays I worked for a local wedding photographer and during the week pursued commercal work. My clients included a well-known Lancaster area resort chain and a string of convenience stores. After college my commercial business ended when I moved back to the Philadelphia area. I subsequently did some wedding work but my family wanted me to "get real" and so I went into a full-time business career with a regular paycheck.

In the last two decades, digital photography was changing everything and brought me back into photography. I started shooting again in 2002, this time digital underwater photography. As a part-time Scuba Instructor and enthusiast I was traveling and shooting, I won another contest (this time underwater) and starting teaching underwater photography. My work is on display at the local dive shop (Ultimate Scuba, Media, PA). I then turned pro to pursue my first career love: studio and location personal and commercial photography. I went to work part-time for a well-known wedding/portrait studio working with a number of very talented photographers and the sports division of a school photography company. Now an independent, I maintain my own full-service studio in Havertown, PA where I offer family and commercial photography, and teach business at St. Joseph's University. I still feel the same passionate dedication I had in college; to produce creative and impactful photographs for my clients using the best digital and film color technology today!! I am fully-insured and a member of the Professional Photographers of America.

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Robert Dean Photo Arts | 1615 E. Darby Road, Suite 203 | Havertown, PA 19083

Phone: (610) 853-2434 | Fax: (610) 623-3393