Photographer Bob Carey's Artistic Statement About Cancer In A Pink Tutu
By Paul Glader
Bob Carey and his wife, Linda, will be in Berlin next week shooting a photo of Bob wearing almost nothing but a pink tutu in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
A fine art and ad industry photographer, Carey has made the pink tutu his trademark. It's taken him and Linda around the U.S. and, now, world on a mission both creative and meaningful. A few years ago, Bob was my neighbor in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and we met via our mutual photographer friend, Denny Renshaw. I was a little puzzled by the early stages of the Tutu project Bob was describing.
What started as an off-beat art photography idea developed different meaning when Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer. The stark photos of landscapes with Bob's 200-pound frame in a pink tutu, serve as a sort of avatar. The images evoke emotions such as joy, bliss and happiness to other that evoke words like forlorn, sorrow and brokenness. These are visual representations of what I imagine a cancer diagnosis might inflict not just on its victim but on a family or a relationship.
Linda says the project became a way for Bob to cope with the tragic disease that struck her and their relationship. She's had a mastectomy and is on regular chemotherapy treatments. The project cheered her up. A man in a pink tutu shooting photos of himself has "high entertainment value" Linda says in a video about their work.
Bob says the project has an edge in that people sometimes "look at it and think there is something wrong: a big man in a tutu." Some feel he shouldn't be doing this. Police have shown up on 15 or so of his shoots. He's never been arrested, though that possibility came close during a shoot at the Port Authority of New Jersey.
Bob and Linda made an art book of the photos (with an essay by Linda) that has sold 5,000 copies
I re-connected with Bob and Linda recently and asked them more about the creativity and leadership themes involved with their project:
Q - How did this idea begin and what was the first tutu photo you took?
Bob - In the Fall of 2002 I was asked to shoot a project for Ballet Arizona. They asked me to 
Q - When and how did this project become about breast cancer?
Bob - Linda and I moved to Brooklyn in April of 2003 and I continued to shoot self-portraits in the tutu. Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in December of that year and the tutu became a means, sort of self-therapy to deal with the situation. It really wasn't until Linda had a re-occurrence in December of 2006 that it became about breast cancer. She'd take the photos in to share with the other women undergoing chemotherapy. They loved them. They [the photos] made them laugh and it helped pass their time during treatment with a bit of fun.
Q) Why has it resonated with brands such as Deutsche Telekom and Bloomingdales?
Bob - With Deutsche Telekom, it is cause marketing. People and brands are very interested in sharing good stories. That's what this campaign is about. It's a real soft sell. They just wanted a feel good story. We were already fairly popular in Germany because we had done some interviews with one of the major TV stations there. As far as Bloomingdales goes, I think it's about their philanthropy. When we were on the Today show last year, our first call when we got home was from a senior vice president of PR from Bloomingdales. They do a lot of fund-raising. They have 5 or 6 charities they give money to. The story was different from what is out there. It has hope and inspiration.