It is of a woman, her back to the camera, slumped over the top of a staircase.
In 2007 he updated the photo, adding water to make the staircase landing and window look flooded.
To commemorate his 40-plus years of photography, Burr is having a retrospective of his work starting with a reception Feb. 28 at the Burbank gallery space he shares with his wife, watercolorist Connie Towns.
As he looks back, Burr recalls how in the beginning of his career, it was more challenging, working on early versions of computers. But with the birth of digital technology, results have easier and swifter, he said.
“When digital came along, it allowed me to be more creative,” Burr said. “When I didn’t have digital capabilities, I was always trying different processes to create what I wanted.”
He labels one of his works, “Christopher’s Dream,” as an interpretive portrait. The inspiration came from a dream his nephew told him about. There is a spaceship hovering over three negative images of his nephew’s face.
“I take the art of photographing a portrait of a person another step further,” he said. “I tell a story.”
Montrose resident Pete Goodman has several of Burr’s photographs displayed in his home and likes the way Burr manipulates his photographic art.
One of Goodman’s favorites was taken at Descanso Gardens.
It’s a photograph of trees and grass with a second image of the trees and grass flipped over next to it, creating a mirror image, Goodman said. When he put the two images together, side-by-side, the photograph resembled a person formed by the trees.
“He can take a picture of ordinary things and with technology, something else comes out, and he has the vision to perceive it,” he said.
Over the years he has photographed more than 100 CD covers for such jazz artists as Louie Bellson, Herb Ellis and Jack Sheldon.
“Many of the artists came back to rerecord their songs onto CD because the vinyl recordings were deteriorating,” he said.
He has also worked with Orestes Suarez, an interior design and lighting consultant, who renovates residences owned by high-profile Hollywood celebrities. Burr has photographed several of his projects that have been featured in design magazines like California Homes and Interior Design, Suarez said.
“He works with me so that I get what I want but using his own expertise to ensure that the photographic shoot delivers a beautiful result,” Suarez said.
