Bill Smith

 

 

About The Artist:

Bill Smith, a full time resident of Waynesville, NC, was born in Atlanta, Ga., and graduated from Duke University with a degree in history.

Vitally involved in photography for over 50 years, and for the past 20 years he has devoted his efforts primarily to large and medium format fine art black and white photography..

He has attended workshops with renowned professionals such as the late Fred Picker at his Zone VI workshop, at a large format workshop with Tom McCartney at the Palm Beach Photo Workshop, and most recently at John Sexton's Workshop in Carmel Valley, California. Bill's work is included in private and corporate collections throughout the country, most recently at Credit Suisse, and he is currently represented by The Mahler Gallery in Raleigh, NC. He is an exhibiting member of The Southern Appalachian Photographers Guild, and is currently an exhibiting member at The Mainstreet Artists Co-op in Waynesville, NC. Smith has instructed at the University Of North Carolina, Asheville at The Reuter Center, and has lectured widely to groups in North Carolina.

His camera equipment includes a 35 mm Leicaflex system, and in medium format a Hasselblad system, as well as a Rolleiflex E-2.. He uses primarily Fuji Neopan 400 and Kodak Tri-X Films. All images are hand printed by the artist, signed & numbered, and printed onto Oriental VC fiber based paper, and selenium toned.

 

  

 

Technical Stuff:

I photograph in 35 mm, and medium format using black & white negative film. I use the Leicaflex system when limited in size or weight of equipment, but which still gives me the versatility of interchangeable lenses. Without the above constraints I prefer to carry both the Rolleiflex twin lens reflex and the Hasselblad system, getting the same definition and final print quality with either camera when negatives are printed up to a maximum of 20” x 24”.


The new Kodak T-Max 400 is my standard film for the 35mm system, because I can set higher shutter speeds and a reasonably high F stop even when using filters. An added benefit to the higher shutter speed is that it gives me a much higher percentage of sharp negatives when hand holding.


I prefer Kodak Tri-X film for use with the medium format. When I am traveling I like to use the Rolleiflex when walking around in cities, and the Hasselblad system when working out the trunk of my car.
All of my film is developed in Pyrocat for 14 minutes followed by a one minute water rinse, then 6 minutes in Photographer’s Formulary TF-5 fixer and finish by washing for 6 or 7 minutes.