Gallery Lumiere is now pleased to announce “Gathering Calm” by Bill Schwab, the photographer the gallery represents. His landscape photographs remain vibrant force within calmness. His 50 photographs will be exhibited in Gallery Lumiere from May 17 to July 3. His ten-year photography career is presented in a book, called “Gathering Calm-Photographs: 1994-2004.” The exhibition is organized to celebrate his publication. His book, which is coming out on 14th of May will be also introduced in the gallery. This exhibition “Gathering Calm” will be in show simultaneously with Halsted Gallery, one of the major photography galleries in the States (May 14- June 18).

In addition, Gallery Lumiere carefully chose Bill Schwab’s photographs for its ambitious project “Space and Photographs”. With energy of pleasant spring breeze, it would be nice to go on a visit to the gallery with family to pick an affordable photograph to brighten spaces at home. It will be a good opportunity to collect desirable photographs that are affordable without going to the art or photography fairs in foreign countries.

Schwab takes landscape photographs. His ethereal, dreamlike photographs-a fog shrouded bridge, a fountain seen at dusk, reeds reflected in the smooth surface of a pond-are visual music and poetry. It goes beyond what refined and designed landscape photographs influence the viewers. His photographs let viewers penetrate their internal soul and contemplate both inner and outer life.

It is surprising to notice the area he has photographed is the birthplace of industrial mass production in his hometown Detroit, Michigan, which is far from beautiful countryside landscape. At first, he was a follower of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, and the f64 tradition. He took the obligatory pristine landscapes of rocks, rivers and trees, trying to emulate the maters.

So Schwab turned his camera on the world around him- Belle Isle, a unique island park in the Detroit River border between the US and Canada, the ruins of northern Michigan’s long abandoned copper mining industry in the Keweenaw Peninsula, and the decaying industrial landscape surrounding Henry Ford’s Rouge plant in Michigan.

“And what I started seeing was this strange beauty in the way that man is screwing up the earth. Very few people visit these areas, so it can be quite peaceful. Migratory birds frequent the river areas and in many ways it’s very similar to photographing out in nature. I’m always conscious of the history of this place, so I’m trying to create a general feeling in my pictures that people can use as little meditative springboards for their own interpretation.”

While most of people are sleeping, Bill Schwab is out roaming the city with his Hasselblad cameras, rain gear, and a short baseball bat he uses to keep rogue dogs at bay. “I go out in weather that photographers just normally don’t go out in.” Making use of an ethereal, atmospheric quality as a means to the emotional he chooses to make photographs during inclement weather and challenging lighting situations. The choice of what to photograph is coupled with selenium toned gelatin silver print effect in the attempt to make each image powerful.

“I started out idolizing Ansel Adams and those photographers then grew bored with their work and now I love it and I see fully what they were trying to do. We can’t all go out and take Ansel Adams photographs because we’re not all Ansel Adams. I had to go through all these steps to find my own vision. I’m still finding it- constantly.”

* Reference


B&W (October, 2001) / David Best
Gathering Calm: Photographs, 1994-2004 Forward
                   /  Nancy Sojka (Curator of Graphic Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts)
“Photographer Takes up North to Extremes,” Detroit Free Press (November, 2003) / Heri Guten Cohen

It was during this period that Schwab spent a time in New York working with and assisting under commercial/fine art photographer Alen MacWeeney. Working in the city proved an enlightening as well as exciting experience in that it not only afforded the opportunity to work with an extremely talented and respected photographer, it also brought him in contact with some of the world’s top galleries and museums.

Having been shown in many group and solo exhibitions in the US and abroad since the early 1980’s, Schwab’s work continues to become more widely known and sought after. It is in turn becoming represented in a growing number of private, corporate and museum collections around the world.

Selected Group Exhibitions

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Museum Collections