Bill Birkemeier

In the Artist's Words:

I grew up in a family of photographers with a darkroom in the basement and a grandfather and uncle who were photographic artists in black and white. There was always cameras around and my dad taught me how to take photographs and to make my own prints when I was in middle school. I started using a Yaschica 35 mm SLR, eventually moved up to a Miranda 35 mm, and then to an Olympus OM-2. Houses without basements aren't conducive to darkrooms, so photo printing was put on hold and I moved from black and white prints into color slides, lots of slides. Fortunately, the digital age has changed things - and 6 computers, at least 5 color printers, and 4 digital cameras later, it's now easy to "develop" fine art prints without having to mix chemicals or turn off the lights! For me, the move to digital combines my knowledge of computers with the technical demands of printmaking and the creative challenge of photography.

We're fortunate that my work as a research coastal engineer has allowed us to live on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as there's no shortage of photography subjects. My favorites are birds, beaches, shells, stormy seas and beautiful sunsets. 

While most of my photographs are of the Outer Banks, we enjoy travel and have included some of our favorite photos from our photographic western adventures. Arizona and the desert southwest has always been a special destination for us, probably because its so dramatically different than our North Carolina Outer Banks. We've enjoyed every book written by Tony Hillerman, and marveled at the outstanding photography in the pages of Arizona Highways. I chose a few of my favorite images from our desert travels for you.

My current equipment includes a Nikon D200, Nikon 18-200 AFS VR lens, Sigma lenses 70-300, 10-20 and 50-500. Pigmented inkjet fine art prints are produced using a Epson R2400 printer and archival materials. These prints will maintain their colors for 70-100 years!

Many of these photos adorn our walls. We hope you'll find something nice here for your own. To see more of my work please visit www.inthelens.com