William Wilhelm has been experimenting with photography throughout his entire life. His father, a farmer in upstate New York, had a collection of German cameras and glass plate negatives. As a kid, William learned to print from negatives of images that his dad took at the 1939 World’s Fair.
Always visual, tactile, and interested in perfection, Wilhelm was a foodie before foodies were named. His interest in food processes and technique led him to the industry, and he became a chef. His career spans decades in food and hospitality, from a stint as a television “healthy foods chef” to a Whole Foods Manager, an innkeeper, and a food consultant. All the while, Wilhelm collected cameras, took photos, looked closely at the world around him and practiced seeing through the eyes of an artist.
With his trademark focus on process and technique, he developed a mastery of the camera. And in recent years, his artistic side took center stage, with an eye for the visual side of everything. His fine art photography has won awards.
But he’s more than a fine art photographer. Decades in the food industry shaped his business acumen, and Wilhelm has the sensibility and perspective of a promoter and marketer as well.
Take food, for instance. Send any commercial photographer to a bakery, and you’ll get variations on a theme of delicious looking pastries. Send Wilhelm into that bakery, and you’ll get the scrumptious looking food, but also a sense of the place itself, and the people behind the pastries. You’ll even feel like you’ve been there.
“I don’t capture images”, he says. “I interpret reality.” And therein lies the difference between an ordinary photographer, looking through a lens to capture something that already exists out there in the world, and an artist, who creates something out of nothing. [slideshow id=69]
emily durham says
Bill is an outstanding photographer that captures reality. I am thrilled to see his gifted talent being recognized by the true locals and beyond. I highly recommend him and his wife to be your next to capture that moment. Congratulations!