Gathering Calm: Photographs by Bill Schwab
Story by Catherine Kavanaugh • Photos by Bill Schwab
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Location doesn't matter, only the chance rendezvous of earth, light and air. Those three elements alone determine where Bill Schwab plants his tripod.

Often times he finds his favorite shooting conditions along the shore of Lake Michigan. When the sun sets and most people leave the beach, Schwab waits a little longer, hoping for what he calls "the golden hour." It's not a time golden in hue. It's a time when the remnants of light from the sunken sun bathe the cloud-strewn heavens and glassy waters in a peaceful glow. It is the time that best lends itself to the feeling he likes to achieve with his work.

But light isn't the only factor. Both earth and air are almost still when Schwab settles down to capture a moment. No waves except for the subtle ripple radiating from a glistening rock. No wind except for a soft summer breeze brushing the top of some reeds.

Of course, golden hours don't happen every day. To continue his work, Schwab keeps a vigilant watch for the trio of forces he can't control but manages to combine with glorious results – when nature cooperates. During the not-so-golden hours, like a driving snowstorm, spotted on a Web-based radar, means get out the camera, long johns and earmuffs. When the inclement weather rolls in, Schwab takes a look around his "back yard" (the Ford Rouge, Belle Isle Park, the Detroit River, Hines Drive and Greenfield Village) to see what it may offer in his visual quest. Although he travels far and wide in search of inspiration, it is these locales closer to home that have contributed to some of his best work.

"You can travel the globe in search of inspiration," says Schwab, "but I find the best things come from familiarity with a place. And there is no more familiar place than my own back yard."

His persistence and patience have paid off time and again with photographs such as "Snow Dog", a vandalized statue of a dog encased in ice and snow on Belle Isle. It has been published widely and purchased by museums, hotels and a cruise company. There's also "Halos - Ambassador Bridge," which was used as a poster by IKEA as well as holiday decor for Banana Republic and The Gap stores nationwide.

Sometimes Schwab's backyard is around his cabin in the woods near Cross Village. Lake Michigan is just two miles away as the crow flies. The satellite forecasts are harder to pinpoint here so Schwab treks down his long two-track driveway to the dirt road to check weather conditions. If it looks even iffy, he packs his sweatshirt and bug repellent and heads to the water. Maybe that is why it seems the stars are aligned a lot for him in the north.

Schwab's photographs along the Sturgeon Bay, like "Wagoshance Light," marked an evolution in his shooting style, according to Nancy Sojka, graphics curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts. She acquired his work for the DIA and wrote the foreword for his new book, "Gathering Calm - Photographs: 1994-2004."

Sojka says the name of the book perfectly describes Schwab's imagery and sensibility: "It alludes to a blend of factors: possessing an affinity for a setting, having a vision, and cultivating it through study and hard work. Gathering Calm is also about having the ability to see a subject, to secure it and to convey it with the same intensity that it was experienced. It suggests a completeness of action that is sophisticated, subtle and not easy to achieve."

Schwab's recent book release coincided with exhibits by The Halsted Gallery, Birmingham, and Gallery Lumiere, Seoul, Korea, where his work has been widely accepted. The book is a collection of 36 images spanning the last 10 years of Schwab's career and contains work from Belle Isle through his more current, ongoing project in Iceland. Beautifully printed by The Stinehour Press in northern Vermont, it has spent the first four weeks since its release on the PhotoEye Bookstore's bestseller list.

Of course, it has taken Schwab much more than a decade to reach this point. His beginnings were humble as a kid with a Kodak Brownie. Photography has been a constant in his life ever since. He studied fine art at Central Michigan University, then moved to New York City to work with renowned documentary/editorial photographer Alen MacWeeney. Under MacWeeney, Schwab learned the finer points of the evocative lighting of people and places, and perhaps more importantly, how to make a living with a camera.

Schwab returned to Detroit to launch his own career, in the beginning holding down jobs such as photographer for the city of Dearborn, while he built up a freelance business and continued his personal pursuits. His editorial and corporate clientele grew into Bill Schwab Photography. At age 30, he quit the 9-to-5 scene and put all his energy into his business and fine art work.

His first big job was photographing the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes during the winter for a joint project of National Geographic, the National Park Service and Hasselblad. Magazine work followed with Schwab's photographs of rock stars and Detroit's corporate newsmakers illustrating stories in Rolling Stone, Spin, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, Wired and New York Times Magazine among many others.

He also took on a string of corporate annual reports and accepted a commission from Fox Sports to photograph major stadiums across the United States in his ethereal, black and white style. From the project, 60 images were chosen for "Shadows of Legends," a permanent installation at the network's corporate headquarters in Los Angeles.

Schwab began devoting more time to his personal vision in 1994, when he joined forces with Tom Halsted of The Halsted Gallery. The partnership endures and Schwab credits it with exposing his work to key contacts in the field. His first book, "Bill Schwab: Photographs," helped as well. Private collectors and museum curators joined his clientele along with the representatives who buy art for upscale hotels and cruise ships.

Following a fascination from childhood, Schwab began photographing in Iceland in the spring of 2002. Being everything he had imagined and more, he couldn't wait to return and did so three months later. The land of fire and ice is ripe with his favorite elements. With three trips completed and more planned, he is hoping to make the project the subject of his next book.

Schwab's work is now represented by six galleries worldwide and part of the permanent collections of a growing number of museums including the George Eastman House, Cincinnati Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts. He considers himself extremely fortunate simply to have people enjoy, let alone buy, his work.

"For as long as I can remember, I have had this almost insatiable passion to make photographs," says Schwab. "I am eternally grateful to those who follow and collect my work. They enable me to continue to do what I love."

Signed copies of Schwab's latest book, "Gathering Calm - Photographs: 1994-2004" are available online via the publisher at www.northlightpress.com and Photo-Eye at www.photoeye.com. He also makes periodic special edition offers to followers of his Web site through his newsletter subscription list at www.billschwab.com.
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