Tom Simon

Thomas Simon has been a photographer for more than a few decades. His first experience with photography was using a Brownie Bullseye camera when he was in Elementary School . He learned the basics of photography when he was in high school. He started when working on the school newspaper, which was put together with wax and rubber cement.

Over the years he has used many different types of cameras, the smallest being a Minox and the largest a #10 Cirkut camera which produced a negative 10 inches wide and more than a yard long.

Around 2003 the majority of his work changed from being made with film to being made with digital cameras. The first digital camera he owned was a Kodak 14n which was based on a Nikon body.

Simon hasn’t exhibited much, concentrating on publishing. His first solo exhibition was in 1971 at the Akron Art Institute and he was involved in several group shows during the mid 1970s which included the Butler Institute of American Art and The Floating Foundation of Photography. Later in the decade he taught photography at a local Community College.

His approach to photography has been influenced by photographers like W. Eugene Smith, Don McCullen, Marc Ribaud, August Sander, Diane Arbus, Weegee and many others.

His work has appeared in many publications including The Cleveland Plain Dealer Sunday Magazine, Ohio Magazine, Cleveland Edition, Ohio Week, Industry Week, Medical Economics, L’ Usine Nouvelle, Inc., Business Week, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Pittsburgh Press, The Fort Lauderdale News Sentinel, Stern, Liberation, Downbeat, Toronto Globe and Mail, The Economist and in a couple books .