| Issue #45, February 15, 2008 |
Honoring the Artist: Lawrence Roberts
This week's cover artist, Lawrence Roberts, is one of those rare individuals who enjoy a profession that seems far afield from the arts.
Not only is Mr. Roberts a law professor, but also his expertise is unusual: space law. Why such a specialized area of endeavor? We find the answer in the following conversation.
Q: I see that your interest in space law has influenced your photograph on our cover, which is called "Moon Roof." Of course, I'm kidding a little.
A: My image was not influenced by space law. But you are right in one regard - it's a photograph, actually a reworked photograph, not a painting. I shot it with a digital camera and reworked it in Photoshop. It looks more representational this way.
Q: How would you characterize your image?
A: It's geometry and simplicity. I'm interested in post-production design and the process of experimentation.
Q: What led you to use this technique?
A: It was out of necessity. When I started five years ago, I didn't have the space in Manhattan to developed photographs so I went to digital.
Q: How do you see photography fitting in with law, in particular international law? How does one area impact on another for you?
A: I am interested in the communication of ideas; that's my theme. Photography and law are different manners of communication. I try to make my point-of-view obvious; a photograph is a statement, a perspective about reality.
Q: How does this "reality" play a part in your teaching of law?
A: Law is a perspective, too. In fact, I play the devil's advocate in class. I look at things in a skeptical way, adding another point-of-view.
Q: Speaking of class, how did you get your ideas across, your methodology regarding introductory courses in law?
A: I used role playing a lot. The students would say, "Why should I take this course?" Through role playing, they would understand why a knowledge of law will be helpful in all aspects of life.
Q: Law should be taught in public schools, too.
A: I agree.
Q: How would you describe your students; college students have changed a lot in recent years; they aren't that interested in learning.
A: When I first started teaching, I found that only one-third of the students were really into the process. I remember my first class was like riding herd on a bunch of wild horses.
Q: I've had a few of those. Changing the subject, I bet people are really interested in what space law is, so what is it?
A: It deals with issues for granting frequencies, controlling frequencies, dealing with space tourism, handling space debris. With space tourism, for example, there are legal issues related to people who sign up to go into space.
Q: This is really exciting and new. Not like the usual duties of a lawyer.
A: Right. I was a lawyer but I didn't like dealing with drudgery, doing drafts of leases. With law, there's always the idea of the "new." There's always a new law. And there's always the idea of how we interpret terms. The law is subject to human perspective. Anyway, I like what's new, what's on the edge.
- Marion Wolberg Weiss
To see Mr. Roberts' photographs, visit flickr.com/photos/ldrfolio.
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