Photographer Interview – Bill Zuback

By admin Monday July 6, 2009

Current City: West Allis, WI

How did you get into photography?
Way, way back. Jr.High School in the late 70′s. BA Photography from Brooks Institute in CA. Professional photographer since 1988.

What do you typically shoot?
Day job: FT manage photo studio for local magazine publishing co. Shoot mostly jewelry and hobby related products.

Freelance: Shoot a lot of fine art in which I use diverse character models. Photograph a lot of portraits/beauty shots.

Where do you typically shoot?
500 sq ft home studio is where I shoot all of my fine art and freelance work. Shoot on-location about 30% of the time.

How do you compare shooting in the studio to on location – any preference?
I enjoy both equally. Each offers it’s set of challenges and benefits. Before working in the corporate photography environment I was a commercial photographer and did a lot of location work.

How would you describe your shooting style?
Dark/moody. Fine art work often described as surreal. Can change styles based on the customer’s needs but personal style is definitely an edgier style. Love black and white.

What’s the oddest place you’ve been for a shoot?
Professionally I had to photograph a custom made doll house at a morgue in N.Y.

Personal/freelance work probably a cemetery. I wish I could say one of the images from my latest fine art series in which a male and female model are pushing a shopping cart nude through a Pick N Save parking lot but that is the magic of Photoshop.

Are there any particular themes that weave through your work?
dark, macabre black and white work. Dolls have in the past played a big part in my fine art work and some of my model work. Current fine art series has many themes but connect with my distinct style of photography.

What equipment do you use?
Canon cameras. White lightning and Alien Bee strobes.

How do you feel about digitally enhancing photos?
Just another tool to fulfill the photographers vision

How would you like viewers to react when they see your images?
Visually satisfied but intellectually curious.

When you show your work, do you have any particular strategy to how you select and arrange the photos?
I don’t have any particular strategy I just know what I like and can often be my harshest critic so image editing can be brutal. If I’m having a gallery exhibition my work has to have a flow or rhythm so that the viewer leaves curious or wanting to see more.