"Just me, my camera, and my imagination."
I am often asked what the moniker “rSEANd” means and why I chose it as the name for my photography. It is actually a combination of my full name: Robert Sean Dibble. My father and I share a first name, but I am not a junior, as our middle names differ, and my mother insisted that I always be called Sean from birth. To pronounce my moniker, just imagine a period between the 3: r. Sean. d.
I was born in Ohio, in a small town called Ironton, but never lived there. My parents were based in Washington, DC, but my mother returned to her hometown to have each of her 3 children. When I was 2 years old, we moved to Silver Spring, MD, which is where I grew up, and where my parents still reside.
My home life was one of continual support and encouragement. My mother has a deep appreciation for the arts and her children were encouraged and enrolled in programs that appealed to her, such as piano lessons for my sister, Diana and me. My father followed in his father’s footsteps, taking the science route and becoming a physician so I worked in the medical field for over 13 years, but never felt any affinity for it, as I was always more drawn to the arts.
My first love was music and writing, which I have always been very passionate about. I loved being able to express myself through words and song, and it provided the first artistic outlet for me. My other passion was for animals and nature, and has resulted in a home full of pets, including a dog, cat, cockatoo, lovebirds, fish and amphibians.
When I was 14 years old, my sister was approached by a modeling scout, but my parents would not allow her to do it, fearing exploitation. Naturally, she was crushed. My mother had a Pentax camera which I picked up, telling my sister that I could photograph her, even though I had no idea what I was doing. She became my first muse, and awakened a new passion in me, to create images with a camera. 30 years later, this passion continues to grow. As a reminder of how it began and how far I've come, one of the first images I shot of my sister still hangs on my bedroom wall.
The first time I saw an image and said "that's what I want to do" was in 1983. It was a Versace ad in GQ magazine, with all these bold colors set against a warm brown backdrop, featuring these exotic looking men with dark hair and eyes. In 2007, I shot a model as a tribute to my first fashion inspiration. The photo appears in my Fashion Gallery.
The first photographer whose name I knew and considered a celebrity in his own right was Richard Avedon. I would carefully remove the covers off of magazines, or the pages inside that contained his work and keep them in a folder to admire and study. After this came Herb Ritts and Victor Skrebneski. The work of other photographers, in all genres, inspires me on a daily basis - Mark Henderson, Carlos Arias, Dave Lewis, Zedneram, Mark Grantham, Ethan James, Greg Weiner, Luis Rafael, Rick Day, Justin Monroe, Kingdom 19, David LaChappelle, MURRAY!, Jay Plogman, Lalli, Lindsay Lozon, Rankin, Justin Thai, Dylan Rosser, Bruce Webber, Benno Thoma, John Healy, Klaus Gerhart, Steven Underhill, Jay Diers, Anthony Goicolea, Terry Richardson, Rundu, Tom Bianchi, Roy Stuart, Rudy K, Hot Snaps, Pedro Usabiaga, Andrew Mellick, David Vance, Greg Gorman, Mario Testino, and so many others.
I am actually very shy, which people tend to disbelieve because I can often be the center of attention. Photography was an ice breaker and allowed me to interact, and in many cases, become friends with people that I would ordinarily not have much contact with. As a photographer, I have always been more personally drawn to the "every day man/woman", which I describe as those guys/girls we see on a daily basis who are attractive, but have yet to discover their true potential. I refer to this as "attainable beauty", whereas it is captivating, sensual, and alluring, but does not create feelings of envy in others. When I would photograph them, I would often tell them that the resulting shots were my way of saying "this is how I see you," even if they had never before seen it for themselves.
There are times when I try to describe my particular style, but the only common denominator that I have come up with involves my tendency to focus on the eyes, regardless of the type of image I shoot. For me, the eyes and the emotion or expression contained within, is what brings the photo to life. I don't have a true studio, with the exception of a few backdrops, so I rely on natural settings, be it indoor or outdoor, as well as the model to make the image come alive. I often say it's just me, my camera and my imagination.
I recently began shooting different styles of nudes including implied, artistic, fine art and erotic. The human form is a unique canvas that varies with each individual, so each nude shoot is new and exciting. I do not subscribe to the line of thinking that nudity, even of the erotic nature, is easily dismissed as pornography, feeling that sex is a very real part of human nature and that it can be captured and viewed as artistic regardless of the level of explicitness. Nudity, of course, still carries a stigma when it involves male subjects, so these images can carry a bit of sensationalism for their provocative nature, and as a result, they can become the photos that people most attribute to a photographer. It is important to stress that it is NOT a requirement to pose nude when working with me.
I have been asked if I only photograph men or adults, and the answer is no. I started out shooting women exclusively but discovered that I had a talent for male images and began to focus more in that area. I have also worked with children, as well as extensive work shooting animals and nature.
One of the hardest aspects of being an artist, for me, has involved faith in my own talents. The work becomes personal, an extension of my visions and ideas, so it can be difficult to allow one’s creative imagination to be on display for critique. It is because of the positive and encouraging feedback from the photographers whom I have admired for many years, as well as the models, that I made a promise to myself to take my photography more seriously, and this website is a result of that. It is merely a sample of what I have done over the years as my early work was 35mm film and I have not been able to transfer much of it to this digital format. Eventually, I will expand to include my work with women and nature.
I hope you enjoy my images and sincerely thank you for visiting my website.
-S e a n