BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer
JERRYWOLKOWITZ staff Donald Rothman peers at his own reflection in the window of a downtown Red Bank shop. Pictured are images from “Red Bank Reflections,” an exhibit of his photographs of store windows that capture the reflection of the passing scene. There’s a common denominator in the skillful hand of a surgeon and the one that guides the paintbrush or chisel, or the camera lens of a fine artist.
“As a surgeon, I’m always interested in shapes, the human form,” said Dr. Donald Rothman. “I always had a sense of the artistic. Surgery is a creative activity, you’re using your hands, trying to reconstruct things, to put things back together, combining visual technique and trying to achieve something.
“That’s why it’s called the ‘art and science of surgery.’ ”
Rothman, Red Bank, spent his entire medical career as a general surgeon at Riverview Medical Center. Now that he’s retired, he spends part of his time working in hospital administration, and most of his time pursuing his art.
“I’m almost a full-time artist,” he said.
His first solo exhibit is at the Red Bank Public Library at 84 W. Front St. “Reflections of Red Bank,” a dozen photographs of the passing scene reflected in local storefronts, will be at the library through the end of December.
Library hours are: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For longer than he’s been a doctor, for more than 50 years, Rothman said he has been taking photographs.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been doing photography,” he said last week. Starting with a Kodak Brownie, Rothman took photos of everything — the outdoors, friends and family.
When he became a father, he took rolls and rolls of film of his two children. When his children had grown, his focus shifted to far away places, which he visited with a travel group of friends.
“At first, it was just a hobby,” he said. “Eventually, it became a passion.”
In the process, Rothmans segued from 35 mm film to digital photography with ease.
He uses a small digital camera he likes because, he said, it is unobtrusive. Then he modifies the photo using computer graphics programs and filters to enhance the image and get an abstract effect.
“I use the computer to make it even more creative,” said Rothman, who scouts for locations as he meanders through downtown Red Bank.
“For as long as I’ve been living in this area [since 1971], if you walk down Main Street the storefronts are creative spaces. Shopkeepers try to catch people’s eyes. I wanted to capture the reflections that made the picture more interesting,” he said.
“You have the picture of what the merchant is trying to purvey and the colorful reflection of what’s behind you, across the street and backwards. That may even be more interesting.”
Rothman’s fascination with the effect of light and reflection happened by chance.
“It started out accidentally,” he explained. “When I looked at a photo I’d taken, I realized it was interesting, so I took more. I love to walk in the downtown. I think Red Bank is a great place for this.”
That means Rothman has photos of stores no longer extant like the legendary Woolworth’s on Broad Street. He even shows up in a photo occasionally.
“A few of the pictures, I’m in,” he admitted.
Rothman is drawn to a window by colors, shapes or forms, and his photos are about more than reflections.
A photo of a bevy of bewigged mannequin heads that once inhabited the storefront of a cosmetics boutique on Broad Street, captures the surreal quality of the window display. Another, the sheer fun of the camp figure of Elvis gyrating in the window of a music store on Monmouth Street.
“Taking photographs makes you more observant of what’s going on around you,” Rothman noted. “You look at things in a different light. How do you take a picture that’s more appealing? People are taking thousands of photos. I ask myself, ‘How can I make this more interesting?’ ”