| From Photoworkshop.com Images from the Industry  TO SEE A GALLERY OF BILL FORTNEY'S IMAGES, CLICK HERE
Bill Fortney is a most accomplished photographer, author, and pilot. Currently, he’s working as a Nikon Professional Services technical representative. But once upon a time, he was a high school teacher and football coach in his native state of Kentucky. “I got into photography like a lot of people do. I bought a nice camera and just started shooting photographs of whatever I could find,” he says. After just a couple of years of being a serious amateur, Fortney decided to become a full-time photographer. “I went to the local newspaper, offered my services, and they told me they didn’t need a photographer. I told them that I was a teacher and we didn’t get paid during the summer; I offered to work for one summer without pay,” he says. Two weeks later, the editor approached Fortney and informed him that not only would he would be paid, but that they wanted to keep him on. “I was a newspaper photographer for about six years, then I was a magazine photojournalist,” he relates. “I was a sports photographer for a while. I went from there into commercial photography and medical photography; I did some open heart and neurological photography.” Eventually, he became interested in shooting the outdoors and nature, which he pursued until he started working for Nikon.
Fortney started the Great American Photography (GAPW) Weekend 15 years ago, at a time when he was doing some soul-searching. “I was trying to figure out what to do with my life,” he recalls. “I was reading a motivational book, and the author said to write down what you would do with your life if you didn’t have to work. I wrote that I would be at the very best place, at the best time, all throughout the year to shoot nature pictures.” The author advised readers to take a look at what they wrote and to consider the possibility of doing it without a big initial cash outlay. “I got to thinking that if I went to all these places,” Fortney says, “and if I got some of the most well-known professional shooters in the country to go with me, I bet people would pay to be there with us in the perfect place at the perfect time.” He started the company based on this idea, and that participants could benefit with the tutelage of famous photographers. Thus, the idea of GAP took off, and has become of the most successful nature photography workshop companies. The workshop instructors include an all-star lineup of nature photographers, including David Muench, John Shaw, Art Wolfe, Jim Brandenburg, Pat O’Hara, and Rod Planck, as well as the late Galen Rowell and John Netherton. Although he’s stepped away from his original hands-on position, Fortney remains Chairman of the Board. “There are other people who run the company on a day-to-day basis. I’m sort of their historian, and I help keep things the way they’ve always been,” he says. Once or twice a year, he and Scott Kelby give a GAPW workshop. A Select Group of Professionals Fortney’s position with Nikon began five years ago, after he left his post with GAPW. “When 9/11 happened, it devastated the workshop industry,” he says. “People stopped traveling and were afraid to go on airplanes. I wanted to make sure the company survived, so I resigned my position as CEO.” He had begun looking for a new job when a friend from Nikon called with an opportunity to become a technical representative for the south. Nikon Professional Services reps travel wherever a professional photographer is working to provide assistance with their Nikon equipment, Fortney says. For
One of the NPS crew, Scott Frier, was Jacques Cousteau’s underwater photographer for 10 years, and Scott Andrews is considered the greatest “rocket” photographer in the world, says Fortney. “He works with NASA, has been at every shuttle launch we’ve ever had, and helps photographers with their remote cameras.” Mark Kettenhofen (also profiled in ‘Images from the Industry’ in April 2007) was named Military Photographer of the Year. “We’ve got a group of great photographers and great people to work with,” he comments. The High Life His very popular coffee-table book, America from 500 Feet!, was released on September 7, 2001, just preceding the events of 9/11. “But because we fell back in love with America, retailers were putting books with ‘America’ in the title in the front of their stores,” Fortney says. Since then, this book has become the best-selling American landscape aerial photography book of all time.
Thus, he’s currently working on his fifth book, America From 500 Feet II, which is slated for release in November 2008. He and Kettenhofen are shooting pictures from Power Parachutes, “which have a 500-square-foot ram air chute, just like the ones you would see at an air show. You’re sitting in a pretty large metal cockpit that has two seats and a large engine and propeller,” he points out. “You fly it just like an airplane but instead of a wing, you have a parachute above you.” Camera Gear In terms of equipment, “As tech reps, we have two of everything Nikon makes,” Fortney says. He uses the Nikon D2Xs and the D200 camera bodies most often. “Occasionally I use the D80 because it’s small, lightweight, and takes excellent photographs. But I use it most often as a remotely fired camera.” He says he uses a very basic selection of DX Nikkor lenses: 12–24mm, 17–55mm, 70–200mm, and 200–400mm. He also uses Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop CS3 and Capture NX, Nikon’s RAW file converter, which he describes as “a great addition to Photoshop.”
Traveling Man “For the past 17 years, I’ve been on the road about 200 days a year,” he reports. “Delta probably sees about as much of me as my wife does.” Fortney is also one of a de facto group of personnel that represents Nikon when a large group needs a speaker. “I really love interacting with groups of photographers,” he says. “It’s a great opportunity to inspire them and I learn a lot from them as well.” When asked about his advice to hopeful photographers, he replies, “The photo industry today is much more stressed and strained than it’s ever been. There are more people trying to supply a market that hasn’t increased that much in size. I wouldn’t discourage anybody; there’s always room at the top of every profession. Just know that you have to go into it with your eyes wide open and you have to really dedicate yourself.” John Shaw once told Fortney that he must teach classes, write books, lead photo tours, and sell prints and stock images. “Today, it’s very difficult to make a living doing just one thing. But if you do all those things John described, you can make a decent living and enjoy what you do.” To learn more about Nikon, go to www.nikonusa.com. To see more of Bill Fortney’s images (and learn how to find the perfect cheeseburger), visit www.billfortney.net. You can also see more of Bill’s aerial images at www.americafrom500feet2.com. TO SEE A GALLERY OF BILL FORTNEY'S IMAGES, CLICK HERE© Copyright 2002 by Photoworkshop.com |
