About the artist: William Jackson- has a PhD. from Monteith College at Wayne State Univ. His career in photography was built as an independent free-lance commercial photographer in the auto industry. There he developed a personal philosophy about his work which might be best stated as "There is less here than meets the eye " It is "about the "bones of the image" Bill says, not the story value, color, or surface texture."

While seeking the right shot, he edits out the easy images which have been already been captured by the camera or the paint brush. He then adjusts images for size or to desatursate color. This process results in really wonderful and 'clean" photographs of railroad ties in Nebraska, overturned canoes in Pentwater, or marshes in Saginaw Bay into which he has waded to capture the right color and contrast. The hint of color in the predominant black and white image adds to his artistic expression.

Artist Statement: “There’s less here than meets the eye” could be the caption for my austere and monochromatic prints. Because I’m mostly interested in the bones of the image, the composition that holds it all together—and not so much in story value, color and surface texture.

On rare occasions, I capture my image just by walking out at dawn when low light comes from the east and highlights only the things I want to capture. But not often. Mostly I have to drive through endless landscape, mentally editing out all the easy images that have already been captured with camera or paint brush. But then I’ll see it—a pile of old railroad ties in the middle of Nebraska, perhaps—and I get excited! I’m not shooting for authenticity, for a plausible record of how the thing looks. But rather I want to see how line plays against shape, positive against negative space, light against dark or rhythm against dissonance. I will shoot for as long as memory cards, onlookers and barking dogs allow. Then it’s back to the studio for post-processing on the computer.

Retouching is mostly limited to cropping for emphasis, adjusting contrast, and de-saturating color. This last step is critical for how my images work. Because I don’t want a discordant color to draw attention to itself and away from the larger composition that I am trying to identify and express.

Finally, I turn from the computer to the digital printer; in my case, a large format Epson that can put out images up to 44” x 70”. These big prints let you get up close to the interplay of line, shape and tone. Rigorous archival standards are observed by exclusively using Epson pigment inks on Hahnemuhle or Canson matte papers without optical brightening agents. Finally, the prints are covered with Hahnemuhle Preservation Spray, to guard against ultraviolet light and accidental scuffing and scratching.

Grotto