Distinguished cardiologist revels in nature photography

Oscar Starobin is next Lamar Soutter Library Artist in Residence

Wildlife and landscape photographs by Oscar Starobin, MD, have long adorned the halls of the Department of Medicine at UMass Medical School, where Dr. Starobin is professor of medicine and director of clinical cardiology. His peaceful scenes will now be seen by a wider audience in My Favorite Maine Birds, the next exhibit of the Lamar Soutter Library’s Artist in Residence Series.

The inaugural recipient of the Chancellor’s Medal for Clinical Excellence and a highly regarded cardiologist in the Worcester area since before the Medical School was established, Starobin embraced the art and technology of photography when he received a Kodak Brownie at age 13. While his skills have at times supported his professional endeavors—as, for example, when in the years preceding Powerpoint, he made his own 35 mm slides in his basement darkroom—birds in their natural habitat became his favorite subjects when the U.S. Air Force stationed him on the Maine coast, exposing him to its natural beauty. Starobin wrote in his artist’s statement that after moving to Ogunquit, “I had the good fortune of photographing the various birds in our yard and the wildlife of the ocean and the marshes.” “For me, a serious amateur, this activity has been a wonderful uplifting hobby, countering the everyday strain of cardiovascular practice.”

My Favorite Maine Birds will be on display from March 18 to April 30. An artist’s reception will take place Tuesday, March 19, at 5 p.m. in the library.

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