GEORGE McWILLIAMS – Graphic Designer, Photographer and serious Collector of indigenous artifacts from exotic regions of the world. “For me, photography is a way of observing more intensely,” says McWilliams. “I came to appreciate how a camera can heighten my awareness when I was assigned to be an army combat photographer in Korea in the 1950s. The camera offered a means to show the life of the GI by freeze-framing a moment in time. As I traveled to the surrounding villages, the camera became a way of telling a story, creating a narrative of experiences. It preserved the wonder of that first moment of discovering a new and mysterious part of the world. It still serves that function for me today.”
With his camera, a constant companion, his travels have taken him off the beaten path into remote villages and rural hamlets. His desire to understand the soul of a culture motivated McWilliams to go beyond the tourist attractions, beyond the trinket sellers and superficial guidebook descriptions.
McWilliams’ photographs of the people he has encountered on his travels add greater meaning to the artifacts he has collected. The faces – intriguing and passionate – that peer back at us in McWilliams’ photographs engage us in the adventure and transport us for a brief moment to a different place in a different world.
With his camera, a constant companion, his travels have taken him off the beaten path into remote villages and rural hamlets. His desire to understand the soul of a culture motivated McWilliams to go beyond the tourist attractions, beyond the trinket sellers and superficial guidebook descriptions.
McWilliams’ photographs of the people he has encountered on his travels add greater meaning to the artifacts he has collected. The faces – intriguing and passionate – that peer back at us in McWilliams’ photographs engage us in the adventure and transport us for a brief moment to a different place in a different world.
© GEORGE McWILLIAMS/Photographer