The multi award winning photographer & actor Bill Ward was born & raised in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Bill will give us a very personal insight into his unique photographic journey. He’ll discuss his background & his acting career, before going on to discuss the photographs that he takes (all three are closely related) & why he takes them. He’ll cover the full range of his work, from his contemporary seascapes, landscapes & cityscapes to his distinctive “Creative Photography” projects (ICM, In-camera multiple exposures, and abstracts) – a genre in which he’s been a leading practitioner for over a decade. Expect plenty of unexpected twists & turns, & an awful lot of pictures.
Bill Ward is an extremely accomplished photographer. He was awarded the Adobe Prize at the 2015 UK Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards (also Commended 2013 and 2020), Best Seascape at the 2020 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards, & runner up in the Creative Photography category at SLPOTY 2021. His work is frequently Commended, Shortlisted & Nominated in competitions all over the world. He is a judge for UK Landscape Photographer of the Year.
Bill’s work has been exhibited in numerous fine art galleries around the UK, including the Mick Oxley Gallery in Northumberland, Contemporary Six & the Wendy J Levy Gallery in Manchester, & has been featured in newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns & books. He’s been a regular writer & contributor for the worldwide “ICM Photography Magazine” since its inception, & gives talks at festivals, shows, & camera clubs all over the world. He is proud to be an Ambassador for Pentax Ricoh UK, on the Pro-Team for 3LT, & a Tour Leader for Light & Land. He also runs his own highly successful 1-2-1 & group workshops, as well as shooting for the photographic agencies Robert Harding & Arena Pal.
His primary photographic subject matter is solitude, in all its forms. He believes that photography is essentially a meeting, between you & wherever you happen to be. A lifelong traveler, he’s interested not just in the places he goes, but the time that he spends in them. It’s this that forms the basis of his work: specifically, how it felt to spend this particular time, with this particular place. One of the UK’s leading Creative Photographers, he has a worldwide following, & is particularly drawn to water.
An actor for over 25 years, Bill has performed in over 30 television shows and films, & over 50 plays since turning professional in 2000. He is probably best known for playing the badly behaved builder Charlie Stubbs in the UK TV show Coronation Street, a role he played for over 400 episodes & three & a half years, & for which he won numerous awards. He also played the long-suffering farmer James Barton in Emmerdale, also for 300 episodes & more than 3 years, & for which he was also nominated for a number of awards. Recent TV work includes After Life for Netflix, The Hunt for Raoul Moat for ITV, & Before We Die for Channel 4/Worldwide. Bill is currently touring the UK and Ireland with a brand-new production of The Shawshank Redemption, playing Warden Stammas. His theatre work includes multiple roles in London’s West End (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Spamalot, Million Dollar Quartet, Viva Forever), UK Tours (The Full Monty, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Glee Club, Shakespeare in Love, Legally Blonde, Look Back in Anger), Rep Theatre (Newcastle Theatre Royal, Bristol Old Vic, Bath Theatre Royal, Manchester Royal Exchange, Northern Stage, Theatre Clwyd), New Writing (National Theatre Studio, Battersea Arts Centre, White Bear) & Off West End (Southwark Playhouse, Greenwich Theatre).
Website: www.billwardphotography.co.uk
Constantly in search of peace and quiet, his photography is a response, & in many ways an antidote, to the time he spends as an actor working in the public eye.
“IMMERSIVE”, Bill’s pioneering Ocean ICM project, a groundbreaking 4 year investigation into water, energy and movement, has just been released by Kozu Books & is now available at www.kozubooks.com
This will be a paid event for non-members with a $10 donation. For non-members interested in attending, please register by making your $10 donation at https://store.berksphotographic.org/product/club-donation/.