Banks picked up her first camera as a child, documenting family activities and her world with black and white film. She was inspired by her parents, her high school art instructor and paintings of Modigliani, Picasso, O’Keefe; provocative photographic work of Arbus, Cartier-Bresson, Steichen; early animation; architecture; classical music and the jazz of Brubeck, rock and roll, folk; remnants of the ancients; pop culture at large.
Banks acts on curiosity about our world – minute, expansive, intimate, breathtaking, gritty, illusive, provocative, impermanent. She investigates our surroundings – human, natural, constructed. Via the lens and using the magnificence of light, color, shadow, form, visual intimacy and vulnerability, subjects are viewed/experienced, yet not objectified. Banks is well-known and respected in southwest Florida and her current residence, Sarasota, Florida. While her focus is editorial assignment work and environmental portraiture, Banks is also widely sought after for her beauty/fashion and striking real-time wedding photography. Personal projects with the smart phone and 35mm digital cameras incorporate the tradition of film and fixed lens cameras, without manipulation, and range from street photography/cultural activism, to observations of our relationships to the natural environs.
Her work… “soulful, arresting, reflects ourselves back to us – transcending the way we see ourselves. Such a love of humanity, a true artist.” – Kate Alexander, Director and Actor, Florida Studio Theatre
“Barbara is one of the most celebrated and respected photographers in our community, and there’s a reason why her work is regularly featured on the covers and in multi-page spreads of the best magazines and publications. She has the amazing and intuitive ability to enter into the very essence of her subject to capture breathtaking photos of depth and vision. Her commercial and artistic work is unparalleled, and a Barbara Banks photograph will never cease to impress and astound.”- KT Curran, Filmmaker and Director
“We received many compliments from (President) Clinton’s staff about how professional you were – after they suggested we use Clinton’s photographer (but used YOU!) because of familiarity with the rapid-fire requirements for photographing the President.” – Olivia Thomas, Chair, Town Hall Series
Banks is frequently commissioned by clientele in Florida and across the U.S. Her work appears regularly in Style, Sarasota Magazine, and other popular Sarasota publications. Her fine art photography has shown in galleries on Martha’s Vineyard and in Sarasota and Naples, Florida. She is currently represented by State of the Arts Gallery, Sarasota.
Additional photographs may be seen on the website www.barbarabanks.com, Instagram @barbarabanksphotos, Facebook Barbara Banks Photography and at the Sarasota, Florida studio by appointment.