Adam Bowen is a local photographer living in Finksburg.
“I became interested in drawing in elementary school. I traced photos on the computer and filled them in,” Bowen said.
Then Bowen started taking studio art classes. He took a class at Staub’s Studios in Catonsville. He learned charcoal, watercolor and pastels.
“I moved towards digital design when I was in middle school,” Bowen said.
He studied graphic design at the Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster. They had a program to do commission projects for businesses in Carroll County such as Westminster Fire Company. He also did a Fall Fest banner for a pumpkin patch that a man had in his backyard in the fall.
“It was a good intro into doing starter professional design,” Bowen said. “It was good to get that experience while I was still in high school.”
After he graduated, Bowen took a road trip to Colorado with some friends and camped for two weeks. They went to four national parks, including Rocky Mountain National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Badlands National Park. Bowen’s grandfather had given him his old Nikon camera.
“It was the first time I had a camera with me 24/7, and I took photos continuously, seeing what the U.S. parks had to offer,” Bowen said.
In 2017, Bowen attended Towson University and started with a focus in graphic design.
“As I continued, one of my experimental art teachers told me to try and take a path in filmmaking,” he said. “I switched my major to a Film and Graphic Design double major.”
“I fell in love with film making and started writing and directing short films during my junior and senior years in college. After college I did not know what I wanted to do with my life at all.
“I knew that I did not want to stay in Westminster and Maryland. I had taken road trips out west and fell in love with it. As I was graduating, I got a job opportunity to work at a go-kart track in Arizona located right outside the Grand Canyon. After I made the jump out there, I decided to get into photography full time.”
When he lived in Arizona, Bowen had two black and white 35-milimeter film photos exhibited at a film photography art show held at Hidden Light, Flagstaff. The photographs from the show were turned into a book. He also has a short film screened at the 10-minute film festival in Phoenix and Tucson.
Since Bowen’s job was flexible, he took three-day weekend camping trips and drives to Utah. He hiked, camped and took pictures. Bowen met a man from India at a campground and helped him set up a tent and get firewood. Bowen was fascinated by the man’s story. The man had spent his entire life in India and moved to the U.S. to become a motorcycle rider, his life dream.
Bowen also went to Joshua Tree National Park in California.
Seven months later Bowen was at Joshua Tree again and saw the same man from India on the side of the road taking pictures.
After that meeting they sat down and talked about doing a documentary series about desert people. He had two weeks of no work and had time to shoot a documentary with a friend about the motorcycle rider.
“I am hoping in the next six months I will have a release of a short documentary,” Bowen said.
Bowen was a photography guide in Juneau, Alaska, this past summer. That is what solidified his interest in photography. Every day, he took photos of humpback whales, black bears and at times a rare coastal brown bear.
He decided to sell his photos. His mother and grandmother have always sold crafts at the Carroll County Agricultural Center Farmers Market and craft shows. After returning from Alaska, Bowen’s mother and grandmother encouraged him to sell his photographs at the Agricultural Center Christmas Craft Show. He was successful.
Bowen is currently planning to work out west or in Alaska as a photo guide.
Bowen’s webpage is adambowen344f6c2.myportfolio.com.
Lyndi McNulty is the owner of Gizmo’s Art in Westminster. Her column, An Eye for Art, appears regularly in Life & Times.
