“If you are a photographer, then you to do photography,” Flischel said, “you just have to keep plugging away.”

So he made the trip. The piece ran in TIME magazine and was subsequently picked up by LIFE magazine. LIFE added Flischel’s photos to its “Pictures of the Year” edition.

He said that particular shoot resulted in one of the most intriguing he has ever done.

That, and the time he had the opportunity to photograph boxing middle-weight world champion Aaron Prior. He was given five minutes to get whatever photos he needed - with the champ’s bodyguard aiming a gun at him and holding back a Doberman Pincer.

Flischel said it was then he learned the valued ability of shooting photographs fast and capturing the moment.

Flischel is the proprietor of Robert Flischel Photography, located at 6820 Wooster Pike in Mariemont on the second story of The Strand.

He was the second tenant to locate to the new building shortly after it was renovated nearly 10 years ago.

Flischel had been operating his studio on 6th Street in downtown Cincinnati.

“My wife and I would drive out (to Mariemont) a lot and I would see workers working on The Strand. There were these cows out front (sculpted pieces of work) and I thought ‘This would be a great place to relocate, an ideal place for me’.”

“And it has turned out that way.”

The interior of his studio is a vivid, vibrant introspective and retrospective look of Greater Cincinnati, his walls inundated with a myriad of photos ranging from architectural structures, parks, neighborhoods and faces of people which devise “... the fragile fabric of history” that gives the city its character.

He has published several books, including “Perspectives Cincinnati: The Towers Perrin Collection”, “Then and Now: Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky”, “New Bremen”, “An Expression of the Community: Cincinnati Public Schools Legacy of Art”, and “Cincinnati Illuminated: A Photographic Journey”.

Award-winning documentary film writer and director Ken Burns called “An Expression of the Community” “... right on target and just the kind of thing our distracted, diverse cities need.”

Flischel has been photographing since 1971 and bought his first camera from Barry Lefton of Provident Camera. It was a Mamiya Sekor DTL 500 on sale for $129.95. He persuaded his brother Leo to help load the film and went to photograph the Tyler Davidson Fountain, which at the time was celebrating its 100th birthday.

Prior to becoming a photographer, Flischel was doing social work. He didn’t want to pursue a career in social work any further and decided he would purchase a camera.

“I got a government grant to document other artists who were also receiving government grants. Thirty-two years later, two stops on my photographic journey remain constant ... Fountain Square and Provident Camera,” he said.

Flischel graduated from Xavier University in 1971. He studied photography under Kazik Pazovski and credits his “clean, direct style” to Pazovski’s influence.

For more information on Robert Flischel, call 271-3113 or e-mail rafphoto@fuse.net
To view some of his work, visit RobertFlischel.com