I want to introduce you to my partner in putting together this tour. His name is Roben Bellomo and he is a professional photographer in Carmel, Indiana (near Indianapolis). He will be joining me on our 2024 tours. Why should you care? I’m glad you asked.
Roben is an outstanding photographer, and I put him in the top tier in the country. That’s not bluster. He has a long list of awards and accolades, but among them is that he is a Master of Photography per the Professional Photographers of America and also that he’s been on an elite team of photographers representing the United States in a Photographic World Cup competition (twice!) He’s the real deal and I hope you’ll check out his work and see for yourself.
Obviously, from what I just wrote, you can tell I think pretty highly of Roben, In fact, I think highly enough of him that we decided to open a gallery together in Carmel. It will be called Behn Gallery (and if you are interested you can see more about it here). So we are partners in that venture, and as we talked and worked together, I came to realize that Roben would be an outstanding addition to my Ireland tours as well. In addition to his skills with a camera and processing photos, Roben is a really great teacher. He was actually a public school teacher before moving full-time to photography. He is also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. He readily agreed to come on tour with us. He will be driving one of our vans and generally helping out making sure everyone has a great time.
I should mention that Roben came with me on a prior tour of Ireland in 2019. So he’s familiar with most of the places were are going. He’s already got some great shots of Ireland as well. Perhaps most importantly, he is well-versed on Irish pub culture and enjoys a Guiness.
Roben also complements my photography as well. Whereas I work mostly in color, he enjoys black and white. Whereas I am more of a landscape and cityscape shooter, much of his work is portraits and commercial work. I would say we are both fairly well rounded and do a lot of different types of photography, but Roben has definite strengths in areas I don’t. I believe that will translate into a better experience for you.
And speaking of your experience, this will really open things up for us. We can now offer different options. As an example, let’s say we are in Dingle. We might offer the option of heading out to Slea Head with one of us and walking around town with the other. But don’t worry – you can stick with me all you want, and this is just all about additional options for you. We have had a lot of discussions about how we can improve upon my original vision for this tour and make it truly a trip of a lifetime. I know you didn’t really see my original plans, so it is hard for you to evaluate how much better it will be, but just trust me on this one. It is going to be awesome!
We’ll conclude this post with a few of Roben’s photos from our last trip to Ireland. Enjoy!