ROBERT L. BURRILL
Robert L. Burrill
ROBERT L. BURRILL Introducing new films
2014

Robert Burrill was born in Washington D.C. and was raised in sunny California where he was inspired at an early age by the magic of Walt Disney and his father's frequent use of his camera. He became involved in photography in 1969 when he first instructed high school students and wrote the school’s curriculum entitled, “Four Views on Photography." Two years later, in 1971, he completed his master's degree in film as a graphic art form and extended his teaching to Adult Education. Realizing that experience is the best teacher, Burrill secured a number of commercial accounts producing a comprehensive professional portfolio. His clients included Atari, IBM, Apple Computer, Intertyme and Data Quest.

 

The interaction with his adult students and commercial photography was both educational and stimulating. In 1974, Burrill put his art, photography and cinematography to a test and produced the first feature film ever produced at the high school-community level. The "Milpitas Monster" movie production was awarded the Congressional Record in Washington D.C. for part of the Bi-centennial celebration of Milpitas, California in 1976. { Vol. 122 Oct 1, 1976 No. 151 part 2 }

 

Burrill turned his new creative tool toward his photography teacher-colleagues and produced a series of film vignettes on local master photographers to share with his students. This list includes Morley Baer, Ruth Bernhard, David Cavagnaro, Steve Crouch and Al Weber. In 1984, Burrill worked in partnership with Ruth Bernhard to complete her feature-length autobiographic film entitled, "Illumination: Ruth Bernhard, Photographer." The film premièred in 1989 at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco and on local PBS station, KQED, in 1990.

 

Over the years, Burrill’s vision was greatly sharpened, his technique refined, with exceptional emphasis on composition and historical importance. Today he is busy digitally printing his own fine art photographs, wrote two books on local history, "Milpitas (Images of America: California) "Alviso-San Jose (Images of America: California)," and makes and distributes films in DVD depicting the magic of art and the creative process.