Photograph by Paul Myers

Bill Diamond was particularly inspired by a workshop he took in Yosemite that focused on the work of Ansel Adams.

Photographer finds beauty in nature

By Shari Kaplan

Almost every member of Los Gatan Bill Diamond's family has inspired or encouraged him to pursue his favorite hobby, photography.

His interest in photography began, he says, with his father's old Roliflex twin-lens reflex camera, which holds its large negatives on a ground glass screen and necessitates the photographer looking straight down into the viewfinder.

"He used that Roliflex for years. It was fascinating for me as a child. He let me use it from time to time, but I didn't really get into photography again until college," Diamond says. At Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, Diamond majored in physics but also found time to serve as a staff photographer for the school's yearbook and newspaper.

"The result of that was an unlimited supply of black-and-white film and unlimited use of the darkroom equipment," he says. Back in the 1970s, Diamond recalls, "I saved up $150--a lot at the time--for a camera, and bought a totally manual Minolta."

His physics studies, along with a later MBA from Georgetown University, gave him the background for the various positions he's held with high-tech companies that develop and manufacture components and circuits dealing with optics and light. On every business trip, he also brought a camera to photograph scenery or other things that struck his fancy.

"When marriage and children came along, I went from doing more artistic photographic work to doing the more basic things like family pictures, family vacations and fun," says Diamond, referring to his wife Susan and their 12- and 9-year-old sons.

Susan is more than simply subject matter for her husband, however. As a 1999 Christmas present, she arranged for him to attend a three-day workshop at Yosemite National Park, the emphasis of which was the study and emulation of the late, great nature photographer Ansel Adams.

"The work of Ansel Adams is something I've always admired. It was great walking in his neck of the woods and actually seeing his darkroom at Yosemite," Diamond says, adding that what he likes most about black-and-white work is what might make some photographers avoid it.

"In black-and-white photography, you really only have light and dark, contrast and composition. There are no colors to work with. It's more of a challenge for the photographer to create images that create a response," explains Diamond.

This December, he created a response by exhibiting his Yosemite images at The Great Bear coffeehouse at 19 N. Santa Cruz Ave.

Some of his Yosemite shots have already sold, but he'll exhibit others from that series, along with shots of the California coast, close-ups of leaves and flowers, and assorted landscapes. Some of these were taken with his newest acquisition, a 4-by-5-inch large format field camera--similar to what Adams used--purchased by Diamond's brother this past Christmas. "He was so moved by my [Yosemite] work that he decided to buy this camera for me!" Diamond marvels.

He might even do a series from photos he just shot at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Among the sports he captured were figure skating, hockey, women's bobsled and men's skeleton, not to mention the after-the-fact gold medal ceremony for Canadian pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

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Diamond can be contacted at 408.358.7520 or billd@lgcal.net.

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