Born in Toronto, I have made Ottawa home for most of the last 30 years, and while I have been taking photographs for many years, it is only in the last ten years or so that I have devoted significant effort to improve my images. I have participated in workshops to both enjoy the art form with like-minded people, and be pushed to do better work. The Freeman Patterson/Andre Gallant workshop, Richard Martin, Garry Black and the Rocky Mountain School of Photography with David Middleton, Tim Cooper and Doug Johnson as instructors have forced me to look with fresh eyes at the world around us.

I enjoy looking at the work of fellow photographers, and so hope that they enjoy viewing mine.  I believe our shared goal is to encourage everyone to simply look at the beauty in the world around us in different and unique ways.  The real reason that I take the specific images that I do continues to be a bit of a mystery to me, and a matter of on-going exploration.  I feel I’m still on the toe of the learning curve, which is always a great place to be. I’m enthusiastic about the prospect that better images are always waiting to be exposed; better prints to be made.

 

I am less concerned with what I used to capture the image than with what I'm trying to accomplish.  Like most people I struggle more with creativity than with the technical or craft aspects of photography, and am always looking for new ways to express myself.  I have been drawn to the magazine LensWork, and the editorials of Brooks Jensen and the articles by contributing authors.  The editorials and articles are thoughtfully written and much strikes a chord with where I am with my art at the present time.  A submission of aerial dune abstracts was accepted for publication in issue #90 of LensWork (Sept/Oct 2010).  Images appear in the print version as well as the extended version on DVD.

Solo and joint exhibitions:

Press Club, Ottawa, Sept. 2002

Balderson Gallery, Balderson ON, July 2003

Centrepointe Theatre Gallery, Ottawa, January 2004

Mill Street Gallery, Almonte ON, Sept. 2004 - Sept. 2005

Contact Photo Festival, Toronto, May 2006

La Mode Gallery, Ottawa, April 2007-2009'

 

I'm a member of the RA Photo Club in Ottawa (co-winner of the Photographer of the Year 2007), as well as CAPA (Canadian Association for Photographic Art) and contributed an article on fine art printing to the Winter 2007 issue of CAPA's Canadian Camera magazine (download pdf here).

 

Recent and upcoming presentations:

2011.    April 30.  Ottawa.  World Views talks, on Namibia.

            May 18.  Brockville.  EAPA photo club.  Bill vs the Thousand Monkeys.

            Oct. 17.  Kingston Camera Club.  Bill vs the Thousand Monkeys.

2010.    March.  Ottawa, RAPC Digital Group.  B&W Image Creation and Printing

 

Teaching:

Introduction to Fine Art Photography at Algonquin College, Ottawa in 2009-2010.

And many preseentations on Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW, histograms, and printing, primarily to the Digital Group at the RAPC.  (Being a member of a club is always a rich 2-way learning experience.  If you want to know if you understand something, try explaining it to someone else.)

I initiated the PhotoCritique (now Photo Feedback) Group at the RAPC in 2002 as a vehicle to encourage club members to articulate what they find attractive in certain images and not others.  Obtaining feedback from judges comments in competitions is usually very limited.

Despite that, I have judged a variety of competitions at the RAPC and surrounding clubs.  Since I dislike allocation of scores, I always do so with what I hope is useful commentary.

I have also provided customized tutorials to individuals or small groups, on photography, Lightroom, Photoshop or digital printing.  Please email to discuss your requirements.

 

Awards:

I don't bother entering many competitions, as they don't really help me progress my creativity.  However, occasionally for fun...

2011.  Spider Awards.  Nominee in Fine Art category.

2010.  CAPA Digital Competition.  Winner.

2009.  Bruce Wilson Memorial B&W Competition, RAPC.  Based on a set of five monochrome prints.

2005. A set of the "Venezia - Fading Memories" images were entered in the International Photoawards Competition for 2005.  I was fortunate to receive a second place award in the Fine Art category.  Please view these as well as others' work at http://photoawards.com/05/contests/2005winners.asp

 

Various readings:

The first two books everyone should have, with different approaches to teaching composition and the construction of images.  (Note that if you buy these from Amazon through these links, Amazon provides a small rebate that helps support this site, thank you.)

Photographing The World Around You: A Visual Design Workshop by Freeman Patterson.  Buy it, read it, go photograph, then read it again.

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman (just a coincidence).  A wealth of practical advice with many good examples for shooting in different situations and lighting conditions.  Well worth a read.

The Art of Photographing Nature by Art Wolfe and Martha Hill.  Art Wolfe is a world-renowned nature and wildlife photographer and Martha Hill was the picture editor at Audobon magazine for years.  Here they present two separate opinions on a wide variety of images by Art.  Very informative dialogue as to how to make a good image even better, and plenty of stunning images regardless.

Photographing Creative Landscapes: Simple Tools for Artistic Images and Enhanced Creativity by Michael Orton.  The blur montage technique, frequently referred to as an "Orton", is but one of the creative techniques that are presented in a very clear format.

Robert Parke-Harrison: The Architects Brother by Robert ParkeHarrison.  A collection of created scenes that I would fail to describe usefully should I try.  Very, very imaginative.  Take a look if you have the chance.

Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking  by David Bayles and Ted Orland.  Two working artists combine seamlessly to lead us through the angst, insecurity and self-doubt that we all feel.  If you've ever asked yourself "Is this any good?" or "Why am I doing this?", then this book will be of help in understanding that these are universal questions.  Don't expect any easy answers, however; there are none.  Highly recommended.

Truthbeauty (Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art 1845-1945), based on an exhibit curated by Alison Nordström.  An excellent tour through the pictorialist period, which gradually ended with the swing to the super-realism of the f/64 style.  This book should be of interest to anyone striving with modern techniques to create expressive photographs, as these are the roots we all build upon.

The Photoshop Lightroom Workbook: Workflow not Workslow in Lightroom 2 by Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer.  There are now many books covering this software for photographers, from the basics to the more advanced (as I would classify this one).  I had already used Lightroom quite a bit, but still found this book very useful in clarifying many points, and informing me on issues I had not known about.  Highly recommended.  The book by Martin Evening also is recommended by many, although I have not read it in depth.

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4 by Bruce Fraser.  I have the original, and Jeff Schewe has provided extensively updated versions of the book as new versions of RAW have been released by Adobe.  An excellent source of information on the RAW file format and what the Adobe converter can do.

Creative Vision: Digital & Traditional Methods for Inspiring Innovative Photography by Jeremy Webb.  The subtitle says it all "Digital and Traditional Methods for Inspiring Innovative Photography".  This is a tour of a whole array of techniques (montages, cross processing, distressing films and papers, etc.) to develop a different look or feel to a photograph.  However, I didn't find this particularly full of inspiration, and it came across more as a cookbook.

In addition to the workshop links above, here are some favourite web sites for inspiring photographs:

http://www.mangelsen.com

http://www.colethompsonphotography.com

http://www.mountainlight.com

http://www.johnshawphoto.com

http://www.barnbaum.com

http://www.phototravels.net

http://www.westofthemoon.com/

http://www.throughwendyslens.com

and here is a very informative site:

http://luminous-landscape.com

 

When not taking photographs, or working in Photoshop or printing, I have also made the odd bit of furniture.  Here are some efforts in this area.

           

 

 

All images copyright Bill Young 2002-2011.  All rights reserved.