Faith a driving force for photographer

Artist Jerome Andrews started his own business four years ago creating large canvas prints of nature photos. Amy Alonzo Rozak/Union Democrat, copyright 2009

Andrews’ photographs captivate the imagination and transport the viewer to the place where the image was caught in time — whether a snowy pass, a lake shore at sunset, or a sun soaked lighthouse perched at the water’s edge.
  

“The driving force behind me is my faith,” said Andrews, 68, of Sonora.

As he contemplates his response, his eyes well with tears and he gets choked up.

“It’s not that I’m inspired when I go take photographs. I pray and ask the Lord to give me something that day,” he explained.

His career in photography began in 1959 while Andrews was in Europe with the Army.

After his discharge, Andrews, who is originally from South Carolina, worked in a photo studio in Washington, D.C., for a few years.

In 1968, Andrews moved to Southern California to photograph bowling leagues and lived there for 20 years. During that time he met Linda, his wife of 34 years, while the two were attending Bible college in Los Angeles. 

Between the two of them, they have six grown children and seven grandchildren.

“It’s exciting to see people’s reaction to his work. It’s like being a curator in a museum,” said Linda, who works for Belleview Elementary School, helping to run the P.M. Club after-school program.

“Jerome spends hours sometimes to get one photo. We sit and drink hot chocolate and spend a lot of time together. It’s really fun,” she said.

Nature doesn’t always cooperate with Andrews, no matter how hard he prays.

In 2007, he searched all over Tuolumne County for a bunch of ladybugs to photograph and found none.

Rather than give up, Andrews did the only thing he could think of.

“I went to Orchard Supply Hardware and bought some,” he laughed.

The end result is a bright red colorful mass of the cute little critters.

“Everyone loves that one,” he said.

Though he has done portrait work over the years, scenery is what really appeals to him.

“I shoot landscapes. They don’t argue with me. They always cooperate,” he laughed.

Bright orange poppies, yellow sunflowers and purple tulips are just some of the colorful flora Andrews has photographed.

Wildlife includes a bald eagle, a giant brown bison and a small gray quail.

At his home studio, Andrews selects the photos he will make into prints using a gigantic Epson printer, which transfers his images onto canvas in sizes ranging from 24-by-48 inches to 60-by-120 inches and everything in between.

“I frame all of my work as well,” he said.

His shop is equipped with tools for framing and gallery wrapping photos, which are frameless, as well as a separate room where Andrews sprays the canvases with a solution to preserve the colors and images.

“I coat each canvas three or four times. Each coat preserves the canvas 16 years,” he explained.

Panoramic views of the Grand Canyon and Half Dome, Vernal and Nevada Falls are breathtaking at 5 feet high and 10 feet long.

Though he started his business four years ago, before the economic downturn, Andrews has had much success, though he is reluctant to take credit for it.

“I believe that if you become a Christian, do the best you can do and always give back to God, he will provide,” Andrews said.

“I owe all of my success, everything, to Jesus Christ,” he smiled.