Nat’l Geographic photog visits J-school
to share his ‘love affair’ with the West

By Chelsi Moy
J-School Web Reporter

Photographer William Allard fascinated his audience with brightly colored pictures and cowboy-poetic stories about buckaroos, ball players, and Brainerd Lake fishing trips during a presentation at the School of Journalism Oct. 29.

"I don’t hesitate to say I love my work," said Allard, a freelance photographer and writer for National Geographic for 38 years. "It’s not just another gig; I care about every story I do."

Allard visited the J-school at the end of a weeklong stay in Montana. He was here visiting long-time Hutterite friends in a colony near Stanford and bird hunting with his 5-month-old dog, Sarah.

It took photo program director Keith Graham a year of corresponding with Allard to find time in the photographer’s busy schedule to make the trip. Meeting a photographer in person has a greater impact on students than just viewing his work, Graham said

"The students were inspired," he said. "He sees people, he loves people, and you can see it in his work."

by Josh Parker

William Allard, staff photographer for National Geographic, reads stories to accompany a slide show of picture stories he presented during his visit to the School of Journalism. Allard has worked with National Geographic for 38 years. His most recent assignments, which will be published next year, have been in India and Paris.

Allard has contributed photographs to 25 articles to National Geographic and written seven. His work on Italy’s Po River was published in the May 2002 issue of National Geographic, and he recently finished shooting a story about members of India’s lowest caste, often called "untouchables."

The untouchables live in segregated societies and perform demeaning work. They must carry buckets so as not to spit on the ground. They are not allowed to wear shoes in the presence of higher caste members or drink from the same wells.

"It’s the largest human rights issue in the world," Allard said.

Although the term "untouchable" is familiar to most people, Allard said he doesn’t think people realize the severity of these peoples’ misery. He hopes the article, scheduled to run next fall, will accurately depict their lives.

Allard has covered stories in 25 different countries, but he is most noted for his photographs of America.

"I had a 13-year love affair with the American West," Allard said.

This is reflected in his fifth, and most recent, book, "Portraits of America," which portrays many aspects of American culture. His book is not intended to represent all of American civilization, just what he experienced through his line of work.

"It is more West than East; it is more rural than urban," he said.

There was a time in Allard’s career when he looked for any excuse to come to the West, he said. He has traveled to Montana three times — to shoot stories about minor league baseball, rodeos and the Hutterite colonies.

Allard devoted a chapter in his book to his Hutterite friends, whom he photographed 30 years ago. He has remained in contact with them and has watched the children in the colony grow to have children of their own. They treat him like family every time he comes to visitm, he said

"Out West" is the largest chapter in Allard’s book. It shows buckaroos branding cattle, cowboy bars and wranglers riding the plains. In the narrative at the beginning of the chapter, he writes: "When it comes right down to it, there isn’t much that’s really romantic about being a cowboy."

Although he is in love with the American West, Allard said his favorite assignment was photographing blues musicians in 1997 for an article titled "Traveling the Blues Highway." He hung out in Chicago blues bars watching musicians like B.B King and Jimmy Lee Robinson jamming on stage.

"It brings an element you don’t usually get when you’re working," Allard said. "If I wasn’t a photographer I would be a musician."

The only outside contribution to Allard’s book was an introduction written by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Ford.

In his foreword, Ford refers to what he calls "Allard’s moral catechism: Man is essentially beautiful; his work ennobles him; photography is virtuous when it can give testimony of such things using the forces of composition, style, choice, generosity and memory."

Allard said he is most proud of his consistency over the years. Good stories inspire the 65-year-old to keep shooting. He does not see retirement in his future, at least for another five years.

"I love my work now more than I did then, and I’m lucky to feel that way," he said. "I’m still growing and seeing better—through my eyes and my heart."

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