By William Bell
I was interested in photography from an early age. I remember buying a little Kodak camera when I was in the fourth grade. My interest was rekindled in high school after taking a basic darkroom course and having access to a good darkroom for a couple of years. With this new-found passion, I then began to study the inspirational work of some of the early Masters of Photography.
Twenty years or so later, while living in Floyd County with my wife, Joanne, we were making our living at Art and Craft shows. While exhibiting at these shows, I would often see other people selling their photography. Then one day, it occurred to me that I could do it, too! I had loved the Ridge and Valley country of Virginia since I lived in Lexington as a boy. And now that I was living in the Blue Ridge, surrounded by amazing natural beauty, it seemed a dream within reach that I could make and sell landscape photographs.
Having considered printing as an integral part of the photographic process, I built my darkroom in 1989 and began to print my own pictures so I could have control of my images. I then learned how to do matting and framing, and it was time to launch my new career.
I traveled the Blue Ridge regions of Virginia and North Carolina with my large format, 4X5 camera; taking photographs of the natural beauty to be found there. I enjoyed using this big, bulky, awkward, and slow camera because it imposed discipline on the art of seeing. When I went out for a day of shooting, I would just take around twenty sheets of film. This limited number of shots for a long day of picture-making required a deliberate and thoughtful approach. Of course, I also wanted to have some film left for the often-magical evening light.
Along with my camera and three lenses, a tripod, a handheld light meter, and a dark cloth were my essential tools. It took some time to set up and compose the image, all the while seeing the world upside down and backwards in the ground glass screen at the back of the camera! But the image quality from a 4X5 negative is impressive. It’s roughly the equivalent of a ninety-megapixel, digital camera; allowing me to make large prints with great resolution.
Upon returning to the darkroom, I would make prints from my negatives. I would then mount, matt, and sometimes frame the pictures, all in my own shops! The cameras and lenses I had were beautifully made, and the film I used was superb; the culmination of decades of refinement. And my darkroom was state-of-the-art. But then things changed.
The first digital camera I was aware of had a one-megapixel sensor and was made for NASA in the early 1990’s. The pace of development for this new technology was amazing, and it caught many people by surprise, including me! By the late 1990’s, the evolution had begun in earnest. Hundreds of new digital cameras were on offer while film and darkroom supplies were getting harder to find. I realized that if I wanted to continue my photography business, I would need to make the complete change to a digital workflow.
After working in my darkroom for eighteen years, I began to make the transition; first to wide format digital printing on canvas, and then to using a professional digital camera. This was a challenge. I was not a computer guy. But I did learn, and I’ve become a big fan of the process, as well as the beautiful prints I can make. The tools I use now allow even greater control and artistry than I had in the darkroom. I still love printing, and I still get great satisfaction from producing a beautiful image, even after printing over twenty thousand photographs!
When I go out to shoot photographs, I try to attune myself to the visual world in a special way. I see the angle and color of the light, and I imagine what the scene might be like from a different point of view or at a different time of day. I move slowly along the trail, paying attention to small details. I stop and observe. I move a little to the left or right and observe some more; sometimes looking through the camera or changing the lens. This is how I slowly work my way into a scene. From a day of photography, I can hope to get one or two special images. That’s always a good day!
For thirty years I have been my own boss, and I like this aspect of my work. I built my own shops, I go to places that I love, and I take pictures that are pleasing to me. I have been fortunate. Because other folks have liked some of the same things that I do, I’ve had some success in selling my work. Most days, I consider myself lucky to do what I do.
Joanne and I own the Bell Gallery and Garden in downtown Floyd, just a few steps from the light. We always have a large collection of my photographs there, in different sizes, including paper prints, and we have the work of many other artists and craftspeople as well. Please come see us.
For more information about William Bell, Joanne Bell, their art, and all the art to be found at the Bell Gallery & Garden, visit online at Bellgalleryandgarden.com. You can also follow them on Facebook at Bell Gallery.
Bell Gallery & Garden • William Bell & Joanne Bell
Bellgalleryandgarden.com • 540.745.4494
For Reservations Call: 540.250.6802
info@bellgalleryandgarden.com
112 N. Locust Street, Floyd, Va