Bill Blanchard
Bill Blanchard is a life long resident of New Jersey and got his start as a public relations photographer for a leading New York City studio in the late ‘70s and has covered everything from elephants marching through the Lincoln tunnel for Barnum & Bailey, to the restoration of the Statue of Liberty, to Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to Seton Hall University.
Starting his own business in the mid 80s, Bill has been privileged to work for Sun Chemical, Goldman Sachs, George Street Playhouse, The Big East Conference, Rutgers, and The Make A Wish Foundation, to mention a few. Recently, Bill has turned much of his attention to the more artistic side of photography using multiple imagery, surreal infrared landscapes, HDR techniques and extensive use of Photoshop to make his point. Resulting in a new way of seeing and shooting, where he takes the ordinary and transforms it into something beautiful and totally unexpected.
Besides being a full time photographer, Bill also teaches digital photography, Photoshop and Lightroom at the Visual Art Center of New Jersey Summit, The Paul Robeson School for the Arts Princeton and the Digital Photo Academy New York City.
Call Digital Photo Academy at 1 877 372 2231. Lots of people seem to hang up if our welcome recording comes on instead of a live voice, but we promise to return your message within a day or two if you leave one with your name and number. It would be even better if you included your e mail address as well as the date and city of the class you are considering. If leaving a voice mail message is not your thing, please email us at [email protected] or [email protected].
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55 Comments
“Thank you so much for teaching us today – I had a blast! I enjoy meeting photographers with Different points of view- you shared with me many good pointers. My husband thought that my pictures looked better! I can’t wait to process them. Thanks”
– Zehra Travis
“Thank you for the class on Sunday. It was a fun class. I love the pictures you took.”
– Maureen Butler
“Thanks a lot for the class. I really enjoyed it and nw I’m very inspired to read my manual. It was a great group and a really nice day.”
– Lynn
“I really enjoyed the class this past Sunday in New Hope. I appreciated the reminders that photography requires practice at getting better.
I posted the pictures I felt were good on my picasa page. If you have the time I appreciate any feedback you have.
https://picasaweb.google.com/kehoerm79/CompositionClass?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCMy4yeiDsqDjQg&feat=directlink”
– Ryan Kehoe
“Lauren and I both really enjoyed the time we spent with you. We learned some really good things and thought you were really enjoyable to be with. Thank you for an enjoyable and educational 3 hours. I will be in touch. Again, thanks for a really good time.”
– Dave Rosenthal
“Wanted to send a big thanks for your insights and help this Sunday. That was my first time taking any sort of photo class, so it was great to do it with a fun group, and learn some great and useful tips. Again, thanks. Looking forward to taking more classes.”
– Anthony Galasso
“Bill, thank you so much for your guidance and a great day of shooting. I really appreciate your generosity in staying after the scheduled end time. i got some of my best shots after 5pm. I would welcome your critique and look forward to seeing you on Sunday in Hoboken.”
– Peter Turai
“Your class at Liberty Park yesterday was very enjoyable. I learned a lot from your explanation of main concepts regarding composition and camera setting. I was wondering if you could share some of the picture cards that you brought along and any other materials you may have that you think could help improve my understanding. They hit the spot for me! Thanks again!”
– Cristina Coltro
“It was a pleasure to take your class. Someday, I wish to be as knowledgeable as you. I’m looking forward to another class that would require out in the field shooting. I’ll put my comments in the student thread and will absoulutely check your website work out as well.
Thanks for a great class.”
– Kristine M.
“It was great meeting you this past Saturday, great class!”
– Peter Kostik
“It was a nice class yesterday and we took lots of good pictures.”
– Lin-Hung
“Thanks so much for a educational and memorable experience. It’s definitely one for the books. In the midst of all the excitement, I actually learned a lot about digital SLR photography as well so thank you for that. I posted a few of my photos on the Digital Photo Academy website (better late than never, right?), so feel free to take a look when you get a chance. Thanks again for a great class.”
– Kim
“Thank you for a fantastic workshop in Princeton yesterday! I learned a lot and had a huge amount of fun. It was a good group of people and certainly a photogenic setting. The tips on leading lines were great, as were the tips on framing. I have started to go back over the pictures I took and was reminded that I got a couple of images that were, in effect, double-framed. I had a window behind a window, which wound up looking pretty cool.
I may post a couple to the DPA website.
I’m looking forward to taking more of these workshops and learning still more. Oh, and I already ordered a set of the close-up filters and can’t wait to play with them. Good stuff.
Hope to see you at a future workshop!”
– Sean Blinn
“Thank you SO much for your time and expertise during our Photoshop class on Saturday! I really appreciated your fantastic suggestions, and I learned some incredible new tricks that will be very useful as I revise my curriculum.
I’ll be in touch!”
– Eliot
“I enjoyed you workshop greatly, and appreciate all your tour and helpful tips. I have attached a number of photos that I took during the workshop. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know.”
– Charles
“Thank you again for an amazing class. Thanks to you I picked up my hobby again. I’ve been taking pictures like every day and reading all kinds of books. Truly grateful.”
– Leticia Medina
“Thanks again. I really did enjoy the class and learned a great deal.”
– Michael Nader
“Thanks for a great workshop, Bill. We gleaned a lot of information and are more readily able to refer to our manuals and know what they are talking about!”
– Carey and Graham
“Thanks Bill. It was a great class and I look forward to taking composition in the field at a later date.”
– Sharon
“The workshop was terrific. Bill, thanks for a great workshop. You did a great job!”
– Dennis McCarthy
“Great day! I actually turned the camera to “M” and shot for several hours!”
– Julie
“The training was a really good one, got to know more about the basics of photography.”
– Gobinath
“I enjoyed the Composition class on Sunday 1/27 and fund it very useful. Bill Blanchard was a very good instructor.”
-Graham
“Thank you for leading the class on Saturday. I enjoyed it despite the frigid temps.
Thank you for forwarding your pictures and the commentary.
New things learned!”
– John Mintz
“Thanks again for a great class on Sunday. I enjoyed it and found it very helpful. I put a few of my pictures together so feel free to take a look. I surprised myself by even getting a reasonable ‘blur’ photo so I added a couple of these in.”
– Graham
“Thank you very much, Bill; really appreciated your low-key, practical, and de-mystifying approach.”
– Bob B.
“I wanted to let you know that my wife, Ariela, and I very much enjoyed your workshop this past Saturday. Thank you for an enjoyable, informative afternoon.”
– Ned
“This was my first time shooting manual… I learned few things… and it was fun… I understand better now why my husband takes 5min just to take 1 picture.”
– Judite
“Class was good and Bill really knows his stuff.”
– Vera
“Hey Bill! Thanks for a great class on Saturday. It was great! I’m so glad that I still have 2 more groupons left to use!”
– Jess
“Thank you Bill for a great afternoon in spite of the weather. It was very informative and a good day. I appreciate your help.”
– Art
“Thank you for a great class. It was really nice to meet you and to get some great tips and ideas from you. I definitely enjoyed the day.
Thanks again and hopefully I will see you at another class.”
– Allison
“Thanks, Bill, for the quite enjoyable class. Sorry I had to run off at the very end – but I did enjoy the walk and trying to figure out how to view things in a different way.
I love the dramatic black and white treatment of the statue on your picture!
I am sending you over a few of my favorites. I’m still learning post production and want to learn how to manipulate lightroom a lot better than I do – that’s more of a factor of time than anything else.
I look forward to attending your class in Hoboken next month.”
– Mona
“Thank you Bill! I enjoyed the class and you covered what I need to know, and then some. Starting to practice. Once I get the basics down I will be ready to learn more.”
-Mary
“Thanks again for the great class yesterday. Here are a few of my favorites from yesterday. One is the upward perspective shot of the tree. A second is one of the bike baskets, from the perspective of sitting in a seat. And the third was a final result of slow shutter speed on tail lights as we ended last night.”
– Mona
“It was a great session with a lot of information that I know we’ll be able to leverage in the future. I thought the hands-on advice and training you had provided while we were doing our shots was extremely valuable for me. Thank you for a wonderful session.”
– Maria Rozario
“Thank you for a very enjoyable and productive class. You helped us understand concepts that would had taken us months to figure out on our own and shared tips we might have never known. Your pictures are wonderful.
Hope to see you in another class in the near future.”
– Agnes and Fredy Irizarry
“I really enjoyed today’s class and am attaching some of my shots, some of which I have edited with the Aviary app for iPad. Although I was not able to practice most of the features you discussed, I really enjoyed learning about leading lines and framing and playing with the ISO and White balance!
I will definitely take more classes in the future and will likely purchase a better camera!! Do you have any suggestions for beginner models I should look into?”
– Valeria
“Thanks for your time and effort at the class this past Saturday. Although a lot of what you had to say was, refresher, I did learn about “Leading Lines” from you. I have never heard the concept expressly stated, although it may have been and I just missed. Makes sense though. Your portrait example out there in the yard can be very helpful to me as I tend to the side of what I shoot is what I get in portraiture. Well, it’s not so much portraiture as it is family snapshots. At any rate, thanks so much. I hope we cross paths again. I hope we all cross paths again.
So here are a few of the shots from Saturday. Please feel fre to critique, all of you. I can only get better if I know what I did not accomplish with my images”
-Frank Sylvis.
“Thank you for this class! It was amazing and I learned a lot! I just wanted to thank you for it and Bill is an awesome teacher!! ”
-Natalie C.
“I went to Liberty State Park with Bill Blanchard. Lots of fun! Always cloudy every time I go!
Here’s some photos – quick editing job. Will send another email with more.”
-Lindsey Warne
“Happy Father’s Day! I’m not sure if you received my photos through Shutterfly yesterday. I’m planning to post a few on DPA’s Facebook page after you review them and after I edit the ones I think are ok. Or should I post the unedited photos. Let me know. Thanks again for sharing those valuable tips during our session and giving me constructive feedback on my photos.”
-Cathy Smith
“Just wanted to thank you for a great class. I sent you a link to my Flickr album from selected photos from Sunday. Hope you like them. I learned quite a bit that day!”
-Jaye
“Hi Bill,
Attending the class was a really good experience. I got a chance to
explore photography from a new perspective. Thank you very much for guiding
us and taking personal interest in our work.”
-Manasa Gangula
“Richard, I took the Photo Workshop in Central Park this past Sunday and I want you to know that your instructor, Mr. Bill Blanchard was terrific! I enjoy his teaching approach, got past my fear of handling my camera, and learned how to get more terrific shots all with his encouragement and instructions. I certainly would take a follow-up class with Bill. ”
-Pereta Rodriguez
“Thanks for sharing beautiful pictures, I loved the one with the arch, gorgeous picture. I started to practice what we learned in class and even i have a lot ahead I was very please with the class, it was a pleasure meeting you and being part of your class. Hope to join any upcoming classes soon!”
-Brenda Jacomy-Kitch
“I’m an old person who still loves film photography, but my daughter and her husband started to push me to do digital photography in the last few years. Last year they set me up for a session at Liberty State Park, which I enjoyed very much. So this year they followed up with another session at Seaside Heights. I took that class yesterday and enjoyed it also, and in particular I would like to comment on the great job your instructor did. Bill Blanchard was the instructor and was as patient as a saint in heading his students in the proper direction to take good pictures. I could make this a long letter about his patience and sincere caring about our getting something from the class, but I will just say thanks to his attitude I will be following up on additional instruction from your organization. ”
-Charles Burok
“Thank you for the kind email and please know that I enjoyed the classes and appreciated the information and perspectives you shared. Your personality set me at ease and made the class fun. I walked away with an increased understanding of my camera and photography in general. I do plan on signing up for future classes.
Definitely worth the drive (and then some)…ahem.
Just so you know, I do not have Facebook (really). ”
-Stacy West
“Thanks a lot, we both enjoyed it. I will send pictures as soon as I get a chance to download them from our camera.
Thanks again,”
-Brian Keane
“Hi Richard: Thank you very much for your patience and giving us a chance to take this class. Brian and I are very thankful for your flexibility.
Bill: you are a great teacher and we enjoyed our class. I am attaching some of the pictures I took at the Park under your guidance 🙂
Thanks, ”
-Aruna
“This workshop was awesome. learned A TON , thank you!”
-Helenita Salom
“I really enjoyed the workshop. Thank you very much! ”
-Luisa Ballentine
“The day and the class was wonderful. Learned a lot and enjoyed! Would love more classes.”
-Jane Russo
“Thank you, Bill. I definitely learned some things that will help me take better pictures. Great meeting everyone in the group as well!”
-Keisha Townsend
“Bill,
I just wanted to thank you for a great “in the field” tutorial yesterday. My wife said the photos I took were the best she’d seen from me – just goes to show you what a little thought and preparation can do. I look forward to more courses with you.
Happy holidays!”
-John
“Hi Bill,
It was great to meet you and thank you for the great class!! You are a great teacher.
Thank you again,”
-Ulla