William E. Davis

A native of Little Rock, Davis has worked thirty years as a professional photographer, doing commercial work and making photographs as art. His subjects, stretching from Arkansas to California, are closely observed views of nature, buildings and objects and are sharp edged and richly printed in the classical (West Coast) manner. Over the years Davis has developed a personal method for analyzing what makes a good photograph. He refers to his process as the "Three C's." craftsmanship, composition and concept. The first refers to a print with a sharply focused image, solid black and whites tones and a long gray scale in-between, flawless surface, spotted and mounted, in other words, a clean professional presentation. The second refers to composition or design. Davis is not a slave to the format of film or printing paper. For him the dimensions of the photograph must be determined by cropping and how well the center of interest has been isolated or controlled within the frame. The third has to do with an approach to subject matter, which he recognizes may vary from photographer to photographer. For Davis, it is: "... to find in ordinary, everyday scenes those small parts of our environment that when done with attention ... can be very exciting."