William Coupon
THE FAIR, THE FLEA AND FACES
A Portrait Photographer from New York City
“I had started out with one goal in mind: to photograph everyone in the world. I got off to a pretty good start, but I realized soon after I began, it was going to take a lot more work than first anticipated.” Coupon says.
William became interested in formal studio portraits in 1979 while observing the lower Manhattan youth (his peers) and its present counter-culture, and decided early on to use a single-light source and simple mottled backdrop as a studio style.
Many of Williams personal photographic projects – referred to as “Social Studies” – became documents of indigenous people. These include projects on Haiti, Australian Aboriginals, Native Americans, Scandinavian Laplanders, Israeli Druzim, Moroccan Berbers, Alaskan Yupik, Spanish Gypsies, Turkish Kurds, Central African Pygmy, and Panamanian Cuna and Chocoe. These projects were always photographed formally on the backdrop, and contextually, or environmentally, with 2 1/4 Rolleiflex black and white images, which were meant to be companions to the studio portraits. A book is forthcoming, with the working title: “Social Studies.”
In 1992, William was invited to photograph the world’s tribal leaders during Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was asked by the United Nations and the United States Congress in November of 1994 to exhibit this work in the United States Senate Rotunda, as part of the UN’s Year of the Indigenous People.
In addition to William’s personal work, he has worked extensively in commercial photography and film. He has photographed 15 Time Magazine covers – including portraits of all the Presidents since Richard Nixon. Newsweek covers include Michael Ovitz and Jerry Garcia. Rolling Stone Magazine covers include Mick Jagger, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia, and Neil Young. The New York Times Sunday Magazine covers include Secretary of State Shultz and Elie Wiesel and a major investigative article on the Turkish Kurds. William has photographed some of the world’s leaders including Benazir Bhutto, Yasser Arafat, Kofi Annan, and Prince Phillip, and has won several awards through assignments for Esquire, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, People, Details, The Economist, Texas Monthly, Playboy, Forbes, Fortune, and many other international publications. He has completed major advertising campaigns for Nike, FedEx, Transamerica, Ford, Japan Airlines, Amgen, Searle, Blue/Cross/BlueShield, Apple Computer, Maxell Audio, and most recently working on the global corporate ad campaign for HP through Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. William has also done major corporate campaigns for Merrill/Lynch, The Washington Post Company, Morgan Stanley, Harvard University, The New York Times Company, McDonnell Douglas, and the Johns Hopkins University Hospital. He has an extensive catalog of environmental portrait color images – the collection including numerous celebrities and politicians.
On display October 26 – December 16, 2012
OPENING RECEPTION: October 26, 5:30 – 9:00 pm
Fine Art Limited Edition Prints are available in different sizes. For detail and prices please contact Floreantprojects@gmail.com
All Photographs© William Coupon
