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What
about Bill? -- Some background
about me. Common
questions I'm asked
On
artistic inspiration
Bill Smith grew up in suburbia Western New
York. This self-taught photographer
has been interested in photography since junior high school, and has always been
inclined toward the landscape. He
has spent a lot of time hiking in the outdoors.
He has been and is always in awe of all the beauty in nature -- too much
beauty not to photograph it. Photography
provides a different avenue for creativity away from full time work as a
research engineer. Photography is a journey in seeing,
perception and communication. This
work is about the range of Nature: the quiet and vibrant, perpetual and
changing, diverse and similar, fragmental and total, as well as Man’s
intervention. Photography is an
abstraction of the natural world -- a selected fragment of what stands before
the camera. Our natural surroundings are a world beyond
photographs and words.
Bill is motivated by intangibles such as a desire to understand our
natural world; to sense the variables of time, light and form; to become
involved in the presence of a place
-- its mystical forces.
They spur his creativity.
His intent is that of an explorer, to be always curious of our natural
environment. While Bill notes that these prints have
been made for personal aesthetic satisfaction, he says he hopes they spark the
viewers toward self-discovery, to go out and examine the original landscape with
a fresh vision. He often tries to
include important elements toward the corners and edges as well as the central
area of his photographs. This more
lively composition allows the eye to roam around, curiously exploring and
questioning, and makes the viewer pause to consider what has been excluded. Bill's goal in making prints is to bring
the viewer in to be an active participant in the composition and let him or her
experience what he felt. He
concentrates on individual objects as rocks, grasses, trees and man-made
structures which become worlds in their own right within the larger whole of the
landscape. He hopes these photographs bring to those who see them a
heightened awareness of our natural world. Bill exhibits his work at outdoor shows in the Northeast and now on the web! To
me a primary source for creation of a piece of work is not so much conscious
thought but that intangible spontaneous ember that ignites in response to what's
before me. In landscape photography it is the design in Nature that is
the source of inspiration. One
accepts what has "come" to us. I
am drawn to a particular composition/viewpoint which defines the camera position
and particular lens. The
tools of aperture and exposure selection are used to evaluate and
"make" the work. Over-analysis
can kill the inspiration -- guided by inspiration the work directs itself.
It is self-generating and evolving.
One knows when this happens – I am only a physical intermediary between
some inspirational presence and the recording camera. Of course work can be
created without the reception of some "spontaneous gift"; however such
work is aside from other personal work.
Others upon viewing these personal images may feel little or nothing.
Success is when the viewer becomes an active participant - for me this is
the success of the execution of the inspiration. On
seeing,
shooting and the photographic process: Each
step of the shooting process depends not on cut and dry rules but on the
interrelationship of the medium, the subject and the desired final product.
One, however, cannot forget technique and be sloppy in its execution.
Technique is a base to build upon. The
product of it, the photograph, goes beyond set rules of technique and
composition. Technique is not
expressive content. One should
trust inner feelings; not a set of rigorous rules.
A photograph should be a personal statement.
Technique allows one to reproduce a scene in the manner it originally
appeared or, preferably, in the way one wants it to appear. Familiarity
with an object/scene does not guarantee a full awareness of that
object's/scene's visual appearance. The
more familiar we are with an object the less likely we are to see and appreciate
its purely physical visual attributes. We
rarely see things in depth. We tend
to see an object's function rather than its visual nature.
Hence, familiarity with an object can lead to a visual contempt that
prevents us from taking the time and effort to really see and appreciate an
object's non-functional, purely visual attributes. These abstract qualities such as form, shape, color and
texture are the basic elements of pictorial excitement. It is up to the
photographer to use the available pictorial modifiers to render all or part of a
scene in a way the photographer feels is pictorial excitement. I
think the need to do your own printing is very much dependant upon the type of
photography you're engaged in. In
landscape photography one cannot exercise full control of the pictorial
environment. Often subject
contrasts are such that the pictorial statement cannot be finalized during the
shooting session. This is why I do
my own printing. To control that
statement, I must modify and control the image after it has been recorded by the
camera. The original view can be
reframed, its color and tonalities altered and its visual emphasis shifted to
create a print that represents my visual statement. To
be sure photographs are taken for various purposes.
The art show work (and sales) support my personal work.
Those at the art show differ from my personal work primarily in their
literal representation of the real scene. The
show photos are subjects that already exist in a visually exciting state.
Personal work requires seeing beyond the object's visual state -
perceiving the subject as it may exist. This
is similar to the difference between taking and making pictures or the
representational and the interpretational. The
choice of modifier (eg. lighting contrast, distance, atmospheric effects,
printing options) will depend upon the nature of the visual attributes one wants
to isolate and those one wants to de-emphasize or eliminate.
Once the attributes have been identified, the required techniques become
self-evident. One
goal of this is to initially prevent the viewer from interjecting his own
personal, subjective feelings about the subject, allowing him to more fully
appreciate the abstract, purely visual elements. Naturally all of the above is moot if the photograph does not fulfill its intended purpose.
I do outdoor shows to show work to others and to fund field trips.
The highly personal work often does not sell as well but I am compelled
to exhibit them too.
There is a definite "high" when someone else feels the
"presence" that I felt when I was there.
They become immersed in it - oblivious to all else around them.
However, one must by economic necessity produce work that sells to
support the personal work - work done for oneself only.
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Bill Smith Photography
-- call toll free 1-877-468-5523 |
