thinkTank's ongoing series, "About A Photo," is a tremendous peek into the process of some amazing photographers. The series has the featured photographer narrate the story of one of their images. In this episode, William Albert Allard speaks about his photograph of a cowboy named Stan and why he doesn't take a photo of someone - but into them.
William has shot for National Geographic for nearly 50 years. Don't miss out on the rest of the images from his "Out West" series here. And his work simply called "The Blues" is nothing short of outstanding. Since National Geographic's dismantling of a photographic staff a few years ago, William has returned to freelance work, and spends most of his time between his homes in Virginia and Montana.
Via PetaPixel
Back in the '80's, I became inspired by the photojournalism that I saw being done in National Geographic. Some of their chief contract photographers like Allard, David Alan Harvey, and Sam Abell were the first to convince me that not only could a single photograph tell a story, but could at times, transcend itself.
Holy cow! The photos in the rest of the "Out West" series are incredible! (Written as 'Old West' above, but links to the same thing)
I got to meet Bill, as he's referred to by everyone around him. He's a manly man, he talked about his travels and his cowboy days. He's now shooting digital but he said he'll never shoot RAW. He was doing a book signing and I didn't have the money to buy his book but i waited in line just to shake his hand and he signed my camera instead:)
Great insights and he has some real thought provoking quotes on his website. And while the expression on the cowboy's face says so much I also loved the sign behind the bar - "NO ANYTHING ANY TIME"