Artist with a Camera: Sam Tobias

Sam Tobias’ love affair with pictures started with his father's gift of a Kodak twin lens reflex at age 12 and has progressed through documenting backpacking trips, creating slide shows, learning to develop and print color pictures, to jumping on the digital bandwagon and now to videos.

Tobias has been generous with his time and talent in support of the Mena Art Gallery. He taught their first photography class and launched a tradition that resulted in a flood of beautiful photography for their annual photo exhibit.

When approached by Rich Mountain Community College’s Rudi Timmerman, Tobias joined a video class at the college. That has led to a series of short videos on the college TV station showing everything from activities in Mena to tours of gardens throughout the west.

Tobias’ award-winning photos have resulted in a rainbow of ribbons from photography competitions. His photos are in private collections across the country and are also on display at The View, a gallery in Paris, Arkansas. He will have one photo in the Arkansas Arts Council’s “Small Works on Paper” exhibit that will travel to galleries throughout the state in 2008.