Spirit Gondoliers, Venice, CA

Robert Kawika Sheer, born in Anaheim, California, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, developed a passion for photography at Punahou School in Oahu. He pursued this interest at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, graduating in 1985 with a Bachelor of Communication Arts. Sheer honed his skills with advanced classes at Santa Monica College. In 1999, during a trip to the Mojave Desert, he invented the "Spirit Shadow" technique, elevating his work to be exhibited alongside masters like Picasso and Rembrandt. His unique photographs, created without digital manipulation or multiple exposures, involve long exposures at night using a large-format camera. Sheer, often with his wife Ingela, becomes part of his scenes by introducing "Spirit Shadows" using a portable light and his body to create silhouettes. This technique, capturing multiple shadows in a single exposure, is unique to Sheer.