Byrd Moore Williams IV is a fourth-generation photographer who grew up in Fort Worth, Texas. He will share his journey to becoming an artist over many decades of photography. He is a published writer and college professor, and he now has work in museums and institutions around the world. Byrd was born into the photography business. His dad said, "Your name is Byrd IV, here's a camera, now get to work." He did, and a collection of work he created at age 10 now hangs in the photographic collections of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
He has also taught photography in colleges and universities for 40 years and realized that his aspiring commercial and fine art students needed more than technique. Ultimately, the most valuable knowledge is how to "read" photographs and maintain a love of making images over an extended career. For photographers, mastering technique is a life-long pursuit. Since its invention in the 1830s, photography has changed constantly, forcing artists to chase technical ability their entire careers.
In recent years, everyone is trying their hand at being a photographer, but a real artist can translate a three-dimensional scene in front of you into a two-dimensional facsimile that communicates with the same broad selection of emotional responses as a movie or novel: humor, sadness, anger, violence, titillation, hope, hopelessness, etc.
This is what Byrd will talk about. He will show you how he got there so you can start on the road to further being a craftsman and an artist!
We begin at 7:00 p.m.
