Robertson grew up in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan with great-grandparents who emigrated from Czechoslovakia and grandparents from Jamaica. When he was a child, an afterschool program leader handed him and other students disposable cameras, telling them to walk the Upper East Side past Central Park and take pictures.
“The first image I took was of a puddle reflecting the sky and a family waiting for a bus surrounded by cobblestones. When I saw it, I realized that we can capture reality in a new form and--using the natural elements available--show our world from a different perspective,” he explains. “I started wondering about the story behind the family and where they were going, and realized how one picture can raise questions and tell a story at the same time.”
Robertson graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Fine Arts in Media Communication Arts and Technology from the City University of New York, then worked as a videographer and music producer, as well as a photographer.
