Robert Alan Howse

Bob, as he was known by family, sadly passed away of natural causes in Victoria, BC. Bob was born in Vancouver - the 5th of 7 children. His early years were spent in Lillooet and then the family moved to Campbell River when Bob was a teenager. It was in Campbell River that he began down the newspaper photography path. Bob's gift and passion was photography. He could capture images of the ordinary and make them appear extraordinary. It is not surprising that Bob took to photography, as it could be said it was in his blood. His great grandfather, Henry Howse, a renowned pioneer cinematographer in England and South Africa, is rumoured to have built his own camera. His great uncle Earnest Palmer had a long film career in South Africa and Hollywood. His father recorded many of the ceremonies and activities of the Legion Branch #137 as their duty photographer. Bob joined the Campbell River Upper Islander newspaper staff in 1970 and quickly became respected for his commitment to news photography. Bob worked for editor Tony Simnett, a veteran journalist from London's Fleet Street, the centre of British publishing and fierce, competitive news. Simnett took that competition to a small-town newspaper and Bob, full of enthusiasm, raced fire trucks, police cars and ambulances to action scenes, showing a passion for "getting the shot" regardless of whether it was his day off or the middle of the night. He was the youngest and newest person on the payroll but Simnett gave him the full-time use of a company vehicle (Simnett got the only other staff car) because Bob was considered an indispensable part of the operation. Bob was nicknamed "Flash", partly to avoid confusion with another Bob (Blakey) in the office, and partly because at the first hint of a breaking news story he was on his way to it in a flash. For over a year, his eye-catching photographs on the front page sold newspapers, as Simnett demanded that a good photograph captured more than a picture, it evoked, for readers, the drama and emotion of a point in time. It is that same principle that can be seen in many of Bob's photographs in later life and brings a skill into the realm of art. His colleagues remember him for his respect for quality in photos. He paid attention to the science of lenses, and despite living on a modest salary he bought his own professional-level Nikon equipment. He refused to use the paper's available pool cameras. They were simply not good enough in his opinion. Bob moved to the mainland and worked for newspapers throughout the interior including the Kelowna Courier, then moved to Victoria where took a job in photo finishing doing custom black and white photo finishing for the West Coast's best photographers. The company's owner, Leonard Moss, also had a newspaper background and the two became lifelong friends. They would team up to shoot special events like parades, festivals and official visits from royalty and world leaders, selling prints to the organizers and participants. Bob's love of photography continued, though typography became equally important. At the daily Victoria Times-Colonist he was trained to the standards of the International Typographer's Union and mastered the art of setting hot lead type on the venerably Linotronic system. Melting yesterday's headlines into raw metal and setting the next day's pages was a complex process and Bob was one of last people trained to do it before it became obsolete. He went on to master photo mechanical and then digital typesetting, keeping up with the times to learn computer desktop publishing, and later web page design, producing web sites for newspapers, magazines, printing companies and other businesses. Though his newspaper career was now in typesetting he never left home without a camera and continued to shoot pictures. Wherever he lived he built a darkroom. As soon as digital cameras were available Bob dove into the new technology, even though he always kept traditional cameras and darkroom equipment in working order. After leaving the Times-Colonist Bob worked for Monday Magazine, the Victoria Star, and for many of Island Publishers weekly community newspapers from Sidney to Goldstream, and he made many friends and influential contacts in publishing. Bob established his own typesetting business, producing weekly grocery flyers, newspaper supplements, brochures, advertising and other graphic artwork, including some product photography. Connoisseurs' of the subtleties typographic design recognized his work as the best they had ever encountered. In 1992 with a group of confederates, Bob fulfilled a long-held dream and launched his own newspaper. The Daily Victoria was a "novelty newspaper". It was published monthly, then bi-weekly and reproduced the visual >