Todd Bryant of Norwalk is a professional photographer whose interest in the past has carried him to the head of the city”™s historic initiative.
“I”™ve always been interested in history,” said Bryant, “I”™ve always been fascinated, and I”™ve always said I should have been a historian.”
Bryant, the son of a salesman and a bookkeeper, was born into the row houses of Baltimore.
The family moved Boca Raton Florida when Bryant was 14.
After finishing high school in Del Ray Beach, Bryant went to college for two years at the University of South Florida.
In 1964, Bryant enlisted in the Army. After learning Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monetary, Calif., he spent four years as a Russian linguist for the Army Security Agency.
Bryant returned to the University of South Florida, finishing his last two years in 1972 at age 26 and majoring in Russian as a language.
“I was always an amateur photographer,” said Bryant. “I didn”™t do much with it then but I always had the camera with me and kept shooting.”
Bryant traveled to Canada to work with the national film board, lived in a commune-like community in Surprise, N.Y., with a friend and former professor at South Florida and even drove a cab in Albany for some time.
Bryant applied to graduate school in SUNY Albany on the GI Bill and received a master”™s degree in Educational Technology.
Through the city of Albany”™s Compensatory Education Training Act, Bryant worked as the graphics coordinator for the city.
Bryant met his wife Maria while in Albany. She worked for GE and was eventually transferred to New York City.
“While living in New York in 1974, I was written into the photography program at the NewSchool in New York,” said Bryant.
Bryant teaches photography courses for the New School to this day.
“We had a loft in New York on 23rd Street before it became fashionable,” said Bryant. “There were even open apartments when we moved in.”
In 1986 Bryant moved to Norwalk, where he now lives with his wife, dog and two cats.
He was invited to a party at the Norwalk Inn celebrating a new addition. While at the party, Bryant sensed there was something omitted from the plans. The new addition called for knocking down a building that had more historic presence than Bryant was willing to relinquish.
“I thought, that house has some value, but I new nothing,” said Bryant.
Pushing against the slated demolition, Bryant wrote a petition that attracted 1,100 signatures. In ultimately saving the building, Bryant formed the Norwalk Green Preservation Alliance, which is now the Norwalk Preservation Trust. Bryant is also now a board member of the Norwalk Historical Society and the Norwalk commissioner of Historic Preservation.
“Historic preservation really hadn”™t had a voice in Norwalk since the old Norwalk Preservation Trust, which was responsible for saving So-No, disbanded,” said Bryant. “There was really no one to stand up for these old buildings. We believed that old buildings tell a story, that they have educational value, and that they have economic value and add to the quality of life.”
In 2003, Bryant traveled to the National Trust for Historic Preservation”™s annual meeting in Louisville.
As a result of the convention, Bryant enrolled in Goucher College, in his native Baltimore, and a month ago earned his master”™s degree in historic preservation, winning an award for his thesis about conversion of historic buildings into lower-income housing.
Bryant”™s fervor for history has been reflected in his photography and he recently began taking on architectural photography jobs.
“I”™m seeing things that I didn”™t see before,” said Bryant. “What”™s in your head comes out your eyes.”
Bryant has recently finished working with a consultant for the National Register”™s nomination for Lime Rock Park in Lakeville.
“It”™s really become another business,” said Bryant. “I”™m able to use my photography skills in the historic business and the historic business informs my photography.”
