Bravo’s enthusiasm for image making has spanned the decades since he was given at nine years old an Insta-Flash twin-lens “box” camera through his purchase in his mid-twenties of a medium-format Hasselblad to the present, when he wields a 4x5 view camera equipped with a Better Light digital scanning back. Currently he is digitizing fine art for museums such as the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, the California State Library as well as individual artists and collectors.

It was with that beloved Hasselblad that Bravo captured his iconic images of the great celebrities of the 1960’s when he was a photojournalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Perhaps his rural upbringing heightened his awareness of possible photographic images; whatever the incentive, Bravo’s goal was a BA from the renowned Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. Not only did he earn the degree, he was Valedictorian of his class.

It’s been an image-based life ever since for Bravo, who unlike many photographers, is as interested in the technical side of photography and image reproduction as he is in its artistic form. In the 1970’s Bravo embarked on a career in micrographics, computer generated microfiche and digital imaging that led him to be President of Mark Larwood Company in the 1980’s and later President of TRW’s Digital Imaging Division in the early 1990’s. The result of Bravo’s choosing the technical pathway at this career juncture was that he became a pioneer in high-resolution digital image capture. His current enthusiasm is its application to the fine arts.