POSE FOR THE PHOTO

Photographer Robert Sturman has earned international recognition telling stories through photos of everyone from police officers and painters to prisoners and breast cancer survivors — all practising yoga. Because for Sturman, yoga is life

- RICK MULLER

When Robert Sturman was 14 years old, his father bought him a camera, a Pentax K1000. He asked his dad what he was supposed to take pictures of. His father’s response: “Everything that you love.” Sturman certainly didn’t know then how this little instrument would inspire him to go on to lead a rich and fulfilling life as a photographer and to give back so much, making the world a better place.

By the time Sturman was finishing up high school, he was spending many hours in the photography department before going on to study art history and drawing at the University of California, Santa Cruz, then attending the Memphis College of Art. In fact, Sturman says he always wanted to be an artist. “I was exposed to a lot of art and literature throughout my childhood,” he says. “But my parents were quite apprehensive at first, because a lot of parents would like their children to be doctors and lawyers.” It wasn’t until The New York Times printed a feature on Sturman’s work that they were really OK with it. “For me, it wasn’t until the second time that they did a feature on me that I knew it was for real. I just pinched myself,” he says.