By Tom Mooney

November 06. 2015 1:23PM
Award-winning Journal photographer Bob Thayer dies at 63
PHOTO/ Bob Thayer

Bob Thayer, an awarding-winning photographer for The Providence Journal for 37 years, whose artful work was often so distinctive as to require no photo credit line, died unexpectedly Thursday. He was 63.

East Providence rescue crews discovered Thayer unresponsive in his house off Wampanoag Trail after he failed to report to work earlier in the day. Thayer had called in sick to work Wednesday.

Over the course of his career Thayer earned numerous awards, including several from the prestigious World Press Photo Foundation. He had a reputation for creating art from just about any assignment, always looking for the remarkable in the ordinary as he moved in close to his subjects.

"Bob truly loved what he did and what he did was outstanding photography," said Michael Delaney, managing editor for visuals at The Journal. "He had the soul of an artist and could see beauty in everything he photographed."

Thayer explained how his eye hunted for that memorable picture when, in 1995, his stark image of fashion designer Oscar de la Renta won first place in the arts category of the World Press Photo Contest.

The de la Renta photo was taken during a runway fashion show in New York, where the designers show off their spring collections. While most of the photographers crammed the end of the runway, Thayer moved closer to the stage, where the models first come out. It was there, away from the pack, that he caught de la Renta peering from the wings as one of the models strode toward the runway wearing one of his creations.

"I was getting bored with the fashion, and I was looking for something different," said Thayer. De la Renta "looked out for a fraction of a second, and I focused on him instead of the model."

Although the picture was shot on color film, Thayer printed it in black and white because it allowed him to "use the fewest visual elements to make a point."

Thayer grew up in Enfield, Conn. His sister, Sue Thayer-Kramers, of Tiverton, recalled how he developed his interest in photography in elementary school from their father, Bruce, a physician and lover of the arts.

The two worked out of an attic darkroom his father had built while their mother, Lois Pingree Thayer, let him drip chemicals all over the floor. In recent years, when Thayer wasn't working for the newspaper, he devoted his time to his aging mother.

"For years he oversaw her welfare," said Thayer-Kramers. "She would have never been able to live in her own home for as long as she did without his caring."

Thayer and his best friend took all the pictures for his Enfield (Conn.) High School yearbook, and he was taking photos for the Hartford Courant on a part-time basis before his graduation.

His pictures graced the literary magazine at Bowdoin College, where he majored in philosophy and graduated cum laude in 1974. He received a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University a year later.

Thayer worked at the Norwich Bulletin for about three years before coming to the Journal-Bulletin in December 1978.

Like many a veteran journalist today, Thayer groused often about the changing industry and responded to the time pressures of digital journalism at times by blaming his two cell phones which, he claimed, didn't work.

But he never lost his enthusiasm for the work, said Delaney.

"He was a kind and extremely thorough professional who had a particular connection with the people he photographed so that they always appeared at their best," said Delaney.

Thayer also loved fly-fishing and nature and some of his best photographs were of the natural beauty of Rhode Island.

After winning the international World Press Photo Contest in 1995 Thayer said "I never thought I would be a professional photographer. I thought it would just be an avocation. I thought working for a living didn't mean having a good time. When I discovered I could make a living doing what I enjoyed, I said, 'The heck with everything else.' "

Besides his mother and sister, Thayer is survived by an older brother, R. Bruce Thayer, of Florida. A memorial service will be planned at a later date, said his sister.