Bill Ward
Ever popular Bill Ward returns to share with us his latest project/book. Award winning actor Bill is also a keen photographer.
He is probably best known for playing the badly behaved builder Charlie Stubbs in the UK TV show Coronation Street, a role he played for over 400 episodes and three and a half years, and for which he won numerous awards. He also played the long suffering farmer, James Barton, in Emmerdale, for over 300 episodes, and for which he was also nominated for (and won) a number of awards.
In 2023-24, he played Gerald in the critically acclaimed UK Tour of “The Full Monty“, spent 4 months filming for a Major Worldwide Streaming Service on a brand new 6 part series due for broadcast early 2026, followed by an unforgettable stint in “Gerry and Sewell” at The Theatre Royal in his home town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 2025, he played Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale at Tobacco Factories Bristol, and is currently playing Warden Stammas in the UK and Ireland Tour of The Shawshank Redemption.
In Bills’ words
“IMMERSIVE” is my pioneering Ocean ICM project, my 4 year investigation into water, energy and movement, and what happens when you physically get into the sea with a wetsuit, waterproof housing and a moving camera, and become literally immersed within, and surrounded by, the very thing you’re photographing.
A surfer for over 30 years, I’ve long been interested in the energy of the ocean, and what happens when that energy transfers itself to the land. As you’ll also probably know if you’re here, I’ve also been full on investigating Intentional Camera Movement in all its glory since 2012.
A few years ago I started to wonder what might happen if I put my two very favourite things together, and put a moving camera into the path of a breaking wave. This book is a celebration of, and a meditation on, the results… the visceral sensation of being not just an observer, but an active participant.
All the photographs in this collection were taken with long exposures and a moving camera out amongst the breaking waves in, on, or underneath the ocean with Pentax DSLRs, C-Skin wetsuits and EWA-Marine Waterproof Housing.
With an absolutely beautiful foreword by the photographer and abstract artist Doug Chinnery, for which I’m extraordinarily grateful, I’ve been quietly beavering away on this 88 page, 5 Chapter hardbacked beauty with the brilliant Greg Stewart at Kozu Books since January. I’m absolutely delighted with the result.
