Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
Bringing together local businesses and neighbors of North Shore
Good Neighbor Podcast: North Shore
EP #80 - From Photographer to Digital Artist: Bobbie Bush's 30-Year Journey
Every challenge presents an opportunity for reinvention—a truth Bobbie Bush embodies as she celebrates 30 years of her portrait business. What began in darkrooms and evolved through decades of traditional photography has transformed into a unique artistic practice that blends digital technology with fine art. When smartphones reshaped photography and the pandemic halted in-person sessions, Bobbie didn’t just adapt—she flourished, inviting clients to share their favorite images and transforming them into one-of-a-kind digital paintings that capture both likeness and essence.
Far from a simple “click of a button,” Bobbie’s process involves thoughtful consultation, artistic interpretation, and collaborative refinement to create meaningful heirloom pieces. Her approachable, client-centered style makes fine art portraiture accessible while reflecting her love of local life—whether kayaking New England waters, exploring the Maine coast, or drawing inspiration from her travels. To see her work or commission a custom portrait, visit bobbiebush.com or stop by her studio at Salem’s Gallows Hill Artist Studios, where creativity and personal connection meet.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Yuan Godfrey.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. This morning we're thrilled to have with us Bobby Bush. She is the owner and founder of Bobby Bush Portrait Artists, and she is with us this morning. Good morning, Bobby. How are you? Good morning. Thanks for having me. Oh, it's a pleasure to have you here. Um, can you tell our listeners about your company, Bobby Bush Portrait Artists?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Um, so I am in my 30th year of my business. I started out as a portrait photographer and for many years did that all around the North Shore. Um, and then along came uh the pandemic, and I shifted gears into a different skill set I had, which was digital painting, and I've now kind of combined the two: taking photographic images, adding in digital painting, and creating one-of-a-kind custom uh commissions for my clients.
SPEAKER_02:Wonderful, wonderful. Is there a backstory as to how you got into photography in the first place?
SPEAKER_01:I've always loved photography. I started in high school with a darkroom class and then continued on. Uh, I did uh finally made it my full-time position um in 1996. Um, but I've always had a love for it and uh and image making and art history because I was an art history major, undergrad. So now I'm actually combining the two in my current business.
SPEAKER_02:Beautiful, beautiful. And we and we progress from photography into the portrait artists industry.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, into portrait commissions.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, okay. And you said that that occurred as a result of the pandemic?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, um, the it was largely due to the pandemic. So um just prior to the pandemic, I was seeing shifts in the photography industry and um realizing that everybody had an iPhone and there was less demand for professional photography. So I started to look at upgrading the work I was doing using digital painting to elevate my work into more of fine art. And just as things were getting going, that's when the pandemic hit, and then I was left with the decision that um what do I do as a portrait photographer if I have no people in front of me and I'm no longer doing in-person portraits? So I leaned into this the skill set of the digital painting and realized that the iPhone was now my friend, and that I could then ask people to send me their favorite photographs and I could transform it into um into art for them.
SPEAKER_02:Beautiful. Love the circle, full circle. So, Bobby, um, what are some myths or misconceptions surrounding photography?
SPEAKER_01:So the biggest misconception about anything digital is that it's free, cheap, and easy, and and it's just a click of a button. So nothing could be further from the truth. Um in professional photography and in the painting commissions, um, it's very easy now to take a photograph and throw it through a filter on an app on your iPhone, and it makes it kind of look like art, but that's not at all what I do. I actually um work with a client one-on-one, find out what's important about that photograph, why it's important, what elements are do we want to change, do we want to emphasize, what kind of background should we swap in, or do we need to combine images together before um before we turn it into the the painting itself? And uh so it's a very custom process. So it's not just a click of a button.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you for sharing that information. So outside of work, Bobby, what do you do for fun?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I have a big love for the coast of Maine. I go there um uh when I can. And um mid-coast Maine and around here, I love jumping in my kayak in the summer. Um, I have been an avid skier, although I don't do this much anymore. But I would say my other love is travel and and seeing other cultures in different places.
SPEAKER_02:Who doesn't love traveling? Right. So changing gears, Bobby, can you describe one hardship or one of life's challenge that you rose above and can now say because of it, you're stronger, you're better? What comes to your mind?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I know we've talked about the pandemic, but that was a big moment for me. Um, but over the 30 years of my business, I've faced a number of challenges. As any small business owner knows, you things change, the marketplace changes, circumstances change. You know, when I went from film and had to learn digital, that was a major transition and a hardship and trying to understand how it works, and then learning how to do the digital and social media and websites, all of those challenges. And then most recently, the incredible pivot from um doing in-person portraits to creating art in a more meaningful way.
SPEAKER_02:Beautiful, beautiful. Thank you for sharing. So, Bobby, please tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Bobby Bush portrait artists.
SPEAKER_01:That it is uh commissioning an artist is not a hard thing to do. Um, I, with my years of experience with customer service and working one-on-one with clients and families and babies, um, I'm a very approachable person. I make the process seamless. Um, a lot of artists have um can get the reputation of being aloof and not listening to the client. And I am far so far away from that model that I feel like I really stand out as a different kind of artist, a more modern taking a modern approach to creating portraits as opposed to something that is like a blank canvas and and and completely from from scratch. I'm actually working off of the photographs and so that it's it's exactly the way somebody expects it, the likeness is there, and and the client gets to see it halfway through or um and see the progress to make sure that I've got it exactly the way they expect it.
SPEAKER_02:Love it. Love it. Thank you for explaining that. So, Bobby, how can our listeners uh learn more about Bobby Bush Portrait Artists? Do you have a website?
SPEAKER_01:I sure do. Um, my studio is in Salem, Massachusetts, and uh uh folks can find me at bobbybush.com. That's B-O-B-B-I-E-B-U-S-H dot com. Um, I'm also have a website called Bostonportist.com. Both will take you to the same place, and you can see samples of my work and videos behind the scenes and a lot of information uh about how the process works. Your listeners can also find me at the Gallows Hill Artist Studios. Um, we do have occasional open studios to the public. There's 28 artists on two floors of an old factory building in downtown Salem. And uh that's gallows Hill. I believe it's gallowhillstudios.com. I have to double check that. If you just Google Gallows Hill, you'll find us.
SPEAKER_02:Beautiful. Beautiful. So, Bobby, we really appreciate you being on the show with us today, and we wish you and Bobby Bush portrait artists all the very best moving forward. Thank you again. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpnorthore.com. That's gnpnorthore.com. Or call 857 703 9406.