Dean Collins

COLLINS, DEAN June 29, 1953 to February 2, 2005 With his family around him, Dean Collins peacefully passed away at his home in San Diego on February 2, 2005 after a valiant two year battle with cancer. He was born in Escondido in 1953 and was raised in Vista, Calif. Dean graduated from Vista High School in 1970 and moved up north to begin his amazing career in photography. Dean is known worldwide for his lifetime of photographic education tours, seminars, video education and computer based instruction. His vision for a new generation of professionals in the world of imaging arts was predicated upon making the highest quality education available in the most easily accessible forms. With his company Software Cinema he ventured into new efficient ways of delivering high quality training worldwide. Dean was a brilliant educator who became one of the most celebrated teachers of photographic lighting and camera technique. He began lecturing in his early twenties after beginning his career at Dunlap-Tierney Studios in the Los Angeles area, subsequently spending several years in Europe working with advanced commercial photographic studios. His audiences were treated to sophisticated multimedia presentations that predated the revolution in digital imaging by more than two decades. His uncanny way with words and his precise analogies entertained many thousands of photographers and designers for almost three decades. He was very effective in his ability to simplify complex thoughts for anyone to understand. In the early 1980's, Dean founded Finelight Publishing with partner Gary Burnsand refined the publishing of photo lighting materials over the years, while conducting seven world tours. He was in demand as a speaker on every continent, and was often called upon to photograph heads of state, many of the world's best athletes as well as some of the most famous entertainers known. He developed several easily understood methods of controlling light and understanding its behavior, single handedly raising the level of competency and quality among a generation of professional photographers. The lighting in his photographs captured the attention of many. He produced many hundreds of virtual seminars and live training "camps", as he called them, bringing together the brightest teachers, the biggest brand names in photography, and enthusiastic crowds of practitioners in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In 1990 Collins began experimenting with electronic imaging, resulting in a very close association with Adobe Systems for over ten years. Today, Software Cinema produces a comprehensive collection of Photoshop training resources. Dean's longtime association with the Professional Photographers of America organization culminated recently in the bestowal of the prestigious ASP Award for Lifetime Achievement. Also, previously, he was awarded an honorary degree from Brooks Institute of Photography by Ernie Brooks. Dean is survived by his wife Linda, his children Hannah and Dean Jr., his mother Florence Marie Anderson of San Marcos, CA, sister Sharon Harrison of Gig Harbor, WA., and brother Kip Collins of Vista, CA. A memorial foundation for the furtherance of education in the imaging arts will be announced on his company's website soon at: www.software-cinema.com A memorial service will be held at 12 p.m. on Saturday, February 12, 2005 at Sonrise Community Church in Santee, Calif.Please sign the guest book at obituaries.uniontrib.com