This week I would like to introduce a local photographer from Connecticut and the newest member of our team Steven Willard. I have been following him for quite some time now and I hope you take the time to visit his site.

View from 133 bridge, Bridgewater, Connecticut. Pentax K10D with kit zoom, four exposure stitch using PS CS4 converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2.

My name is Steven Willard and I have pursued black and white photography since I first picked up my dad’s Leica in 1955. At the time it was really the only viable route to processing one’s own work, color was far too costly for a youngster, and black and white was really the de facto language of most photographers then. So, like many, I concentrated on learning the craft as it was taught by Adams, White and Zakia and would have been satisfied with that. Then came digital, and everything changed, or so I thought.

I finally bought my first digital camera (and computer and printer) and set about in learning a new language, or maybe grammar is more accurate. It was hard. I had a lot to learn and had no teacher to teach me about Photoshop, as everyone seemed to have gotten so far ahead of me and I didn’t know enough to ask proper questions let alone understand the answers. But an interesting thing happened. As I struggled to learn the new vocabulary of digital, I discovered that the message was still the same; see the subject for what it is, and as Minor White said “see it for what else it is”. That has been my goal.

To see more of my images please visit – My site