{"id":25957,"date":"2022-01-11T20:42:08","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T20:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=25957"},"modified":"2022-01-12T13:42:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T13:42:03","slug":"with-a-debt-of-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=25957","title":{"rendered":"With a Debt of Gratitude….."},"content":{"rendered":"

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It’s probably best to start near the beginning! \u00a0When I first got involved in nature and outdoor photography the greatest influence on me was the teacher, photographer and writer John Shaw. \u00a0He became the mentor for thousands of photograpehrs in the 70’s and 80’s and up to today! \u00a0He was a great technician, and shooter but and even better teacher, making the most complex concepts of photography easy for us all, to learn and undertstand! \u00a0Thanks John for such a great kick start for so many of us!!!<\/p>\n

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In the early days of my photography a lot of my photo education came from our local camera club, the Appalachian Photographic Society. \u00a0The friend and member that inspired me the most was Bill Cox. \u00a0He was a college student and had one of the best photographic eyes I’ve ever scene, then and to the present day! \u00a0Bill had a magical ability to see graphic compositions as illustrated by the imges above, all done with his iPhone!!!! \u00a0Bill is still one of the best pure shooters\/artists I have ever known!<\/p>\n

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In the early 90’s I went to work for Nikon as a Professional Markets Tech Rep and my boss and long time friend was Bill Pekala. Bill was and is a photography industry legend. \u00a0For almost 40 years he led Nikon’s NPS (Nikon Professional Services) division. \u00a0During much of those early years Nikon dominated the industry as the true choice of professionals. \u00a0Bill provided me the oppotunity to cover shuttle launches, Masters golf tournaments, air shows, Super Bowls and much, much more. \u00a0He became one of my dearest friends and I still have the upmost respect and affection for him, \u00a0Bill also happens to be a terrific shooter too!!!! \u00a0As a side note, Bill Pekala went to work for Sony as a consultant after he retired from Nikon and is very much responsible for their meteoric rise in the Pro market! \u00a0No surprise, like I said, \u00a0“He is a Legend”!!!!<\/p>\n

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During the time that I was working for Nikon I did a class at Santa Fe Workshops and met one of the most talented photographers of my life, Mark Alberhasky. \u00a0Mark’s work has always inspired me to be better and his graphic and artistic approach is among the best I’ve ever seen! \u00a0His work is truly stunning and he also happens to be one of nicest people I’ve ever been privileged to get to know along this journey! \u00a0If you want to be wowed go to his website \u00a0IMAGEMA<\/strong>, but be prepared to be blown away!<\/p>\n

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Early in my teaching career, \u00a0running the Great American Photography Weekends I met a professional trumpet player who turned out to become my very closest friend. \u00a0Jack Graham is a world class shooter just as he was a musician of such skill that he played with many legends including Frank Sinatra! \u00a0Jack and I started to teach together when I retired from Nikon in 2013 and the last nine years have been some of my best in photography! \u00a0We’ve greatly enjoyed each others company and are brothers in Christ! \u00a0Jack is also a legendary workshop leader and teacher!<\/p>\n

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During this same period I met Jim Haverstock and his wife Sue. \u00a0Jim is one of the finest, kindest and most dedicated Christian I have ever known. \u00a0A very skilled photographer and one of the most fun people to be in the field with enjoying shooting and fellowshipping! \u00a0I talk to Jim almost everyday, a day without touching base with him is a lost day!<\/p>\n

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Another dear freind that has come out of the His Light Workshops is Rick Coleman. \u00a0In the dictionary under Class Act there should \u00a0be photo of Rick. \u00a0A true pleasure to be with and a wonderful shooter, He \u00a0Jim, Jack I often enjoy working together in the field! \u00a0Rick is another of those artists that you can only wish you were as good as him!<\/p>\n

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Jim Begley was co-founder of His Light Workshops with me and we had years of great times traveling and shooting all over America. \u00a0Jim is one of the most skilled photographers I know, his work is simply stunning! \u00a0His skill as a HD technician is unmatched and the resulting photographs are breathtaking! \u00a0Jim is from my own home town, making me, at best, the second best shooter in town! \u00a0Jim is also the consummate Christian gentleman!<\/p>\n

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Over a decade ago my son Wesley and I did the America From 500 Feet<\/strong> book together. \u00a0Over the course \u00a0of that adventure he became a very skilled shooter and more importantly we got to spend 14 months together driving over 123,000 mile across America shooting and flying together \u00a0When we lost Wes to cancer three years ago we still would thank each other often for the greatest adventure of our lives! \u00a0I’m thankful we had that time together! \u00a0I will see hm again one of these days, I know where he is!<\/p>\n

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Many people have been great friends and helped me photographically over the past 53 years, but these were some that I wanted to thank again for enriching my life beyond measure! \u00a0God surely used each of them to not only make me a better photographer but, I believe, a better man!<\/p>\n

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Blessings,<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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  It’s probably best to start near the beginning! \u00a0When I first got involved in nature and outdoor photography the greatest influence on me was the teacher, photographer and writer John Shaw. \u00a0He became the mentor for thousands of photograpehrs in the 70’s and 80’s and up to today! \u00a0He was a great technician, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25957"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25976,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25957\/revisions\/25976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}