Thomas Roma
Encyclopedia
Thomas Roma is an American photographer
who has worked almost exclusively since 1974 exploring the neighborhoods and institutions of his native Brooklyn
, photographing scenes from churches, subways and everyday life, using a homemade camera.
Roma is currently a Full Professor at Columbia University
's School for the Arts, and the Director of the Photography Department which he founded. He has also taught photography at Yale University
, Fordham University
, The Cooper Union, and The School of Visual Arts.
He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowship
s and his work has appeared in one-person and group exhibitions, including one-person shows with accompanying books at the Museum of Modern Art
and the International Center of Photography
in New York City.
His work is featured in numerous collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
and the Canadian Centre for Architecture
in Montreal
.
For one of his collections of photographs, titled Come Sunday, Roma attended more than 150 religious services at 52 churches in Brooklyn over a period of three years.
camera body that was gutted and served merely as a film holder. He milled an adapter out of aircraft aluminum to go between the Nikon body and a Mamiya 50mm Sekor lens. He also made a bright-line optical viewfinder for the camera. The camera was called a “Pannaroma 1X3″, making a play on words between “panorama” and Roma’s wife’s name “Anna,” to create the word "P-anna-roma".
Roma uses a one-of-a-kind medium format camera that he built for himself.
Documentary photography
Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit...
who has worked almost exclusively since 1974 exploring the neighborhoods and institutions of his native Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, photographing scenes from churches, subways and everyday life, using a homemade camera.
Roma is currently a Full Professor at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's School for the Arts, and the Director of the Photography Department which he founded. He has also taught photography at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, The Cooper Union, and The School of Visual Arts.
He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
s and his work has appeared in one-person and group exhibitions, including one-person shows with accompanying books at the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
and the International Center of Photography
International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography is a photography museum, school, and research center in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
in New York City.
His work is featured in numerous collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
and the Canadian Centre for Architecture
Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Phyllis Lambert is the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mirko Zardini is the Director and Chief Curator....
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
For one of his collections of photographs, titled Come Sunday, Roma attended more than 150 religious services at 52 churches in Brooklyn over a period of three years.
Siciliano Camera Works
In the 1970s, Roma started manufacturing and selling cameras under the name "Siciliano Camera Works". He produced the medium format "Siciliano", the 35mm panoramic "Pannaroma", as well as a rewind crank for the Leica M2 & M3. To create the panoramic camera, Roma used a Nikon FNikon F
The Nikon F camera, introduced in 1959, was Nikon's first SLR camera. It was one of the most advanced cameras of its day. Although most of its concepts had already been introduced elsewhere, it was the first camera to combine them all in one camera. It was produced until October 1973 and was...
camera body that was gutted and served merely as a film holder. He milled an adapter out of aircraft aluminum to go between the Nikon body and a Mamiya 50mm Sekor lens. He also made a bright-line optical viewfinder for the camera. The camera was called a “Pannaroma 1X3″, making a play on words between “panorama” and Roma’s wife’s name “Anna,” to create the word "P-anna-roma".
Roma uses a one-of-a-kind medium format camera that he built for himself.
Books by Thomas Roma
- House Calls (2008)
- On Three Pillars (2007)
- In Prison Air, The Cells of Holmesburg Prison (2005)
- Sicilian Passage (2003)
- Show & Tell (2002)
- Sanctuary (2002)
- Enduring Justice (2001)
- Higher Ground (1999)
- Sunset Park (1998)
- Found in Brooklyn (1996)
- Come Sunday (1996)