William Bell was born in Greensboro, Georgia, USA on 29 February 1952. He became fascinated by photography in his early teens and was processing his own rolls of film before he was 16. Inspired by seeing a Weston "Pepper" in an exhibition at the University of Georgia in the 70's he moved onto working in large format. Starting with an old Cambo 8"x10" monorail, then a Phillips 8"x10" and finally a Phillips 11"x14", he mastered the format then began to focus on alternative printing methods. He has been creating outstanding prints for over thirty years. Bell's platinums have been compared favorably to works by Robert Mapplethorpe, Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham and have to be seen to be appreciated.