A Photographic Journey - Through the Lenses of Alan and Sheila Reeves

Submitted by Keith Bridgman

It has been quite some time now, a good many years, when I first met Alan and Sheila Reeves. I recall it was during a Sunny Sixteen Camera Club meeting when we assembled in a much smaller and tighter venue. The club itself was growing not only in numbers but in the quality of the photography being created by the members. Seems the first thing I can remember about both of them was how they expressed their desire to improve photographically. Best I can remember Alan made a comment something like, "We take a lot of travel snapshots, but we want to learn more so we can move to a higher level of skill." 


I do believe their skill levels have grown a great deal since then and without doubt they have developed into two of the finest photographers in a club that has a good number of skilled photographers within it.

Both Alan and Sheila love to travel and this great love of theirs sparked into life a desire to capture their experiences...not just as snapshot memories, but to showcase the magical wonders of the beautiful locations they visit. Snapshots just would not serve justice to the natural beauty they experienced during their travels. So they began a journey to improve their photographic skills not only from a technical aspect, but from an aesthetically artistic form.

The more they traveled, the more they desired to improve upon their photographic skills. They began to look beyond what the ordinary traveler might see, to visualize the emotion and excitement of moments in time that spoke to their inner feelings.

Along the way, they discovered an important aspect about how their personal feelings influenced their photography. It was there, within the emotional depths of their soul, their visions took root to eventually become reality, and their skill as photographers caught up with the beauty of the world they explored.

Alan Reeves Photo

Alan began to focus a great deal on photographing birds and some of his amazing images have won awards as a result. He also recognizes the profound gracefulness and intriguing virtues of the world around him, and possesses an uncanny ability to interpret what he sees visually into photographs that captures much more than the visual elements; they capture the pure and essential light of a given moment.

Alan's ability to find just the right moment to snap the shutter captures the amazing world of birds in the finest of details. His eye, his instinct serves him well when reaching beyond the simple realm of a photograph to capture nature at its best.

Alan Reeves Photo

Sheila turns her lens toward the natural world, including landscapes and closeup visions within the macro realm, to not only explore what is there, but to explore more deeply from within what creation means to her personally.

She does not see a photographic point of time as a single element, but recognizes how the multitude of elements blend to form one single moment of importance. There is at once a complexity and simplicity seen within her photographic work, often a perfect blend of light, place, and emotion.

Alan and Sheila have become synonymous with what it means to become a photographic artist. Their work transcends the ordinary to touch not only the visual senses, but to stir the emotions of those who see their images. Thank you Alan and Sheila for humbly sharing not only your wonderful talents, but your vision and inspiration with Sunny Sixteen.