Inception:Conception - photographs by Bill Schwab

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Inception:Conception

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Holly Roberts next Tuesday at 7 PM eastern time! D

Holly Roberts next Tuesday at 7 PM eastern time! Don’t miss it! #hollyroberts @hollyrobertsstudio #studiovisitswithbill #nlpw #artistinterview

This week on Studio Visits... @lorivrba !!!! Pleas

This week on Studio Visits... @lorivrba !!!! Please join us here on Instagram Live!! #studiovisitswithbill #lorivrba @lorivrba

Don’t forget tomorrow! @danburkholderphotos #stu

Don’t forget tomorrow! @danburkholderphotos #studiovisitswithbill #photography #iphonography #danburkholder #igtv

Next Studio Visit is with the great Dan Burkholder

Next Studio Visit is with the great Dan Burkholder!! Join us Tuesday at 7pm eastern! @danburkholderphotos

Relax... #sunset #emmetcountymichigan

Relax... #sunset #emmetcountymichigan

My encounter with true royalty. It's Detroit's Fas

My encounter with true royalty. It's Detroit's Fash Bash of 1992 and by this time, I'm not really doing event photography anymore. However, I'd been doing work for Detroit Monthly Magazine for years and I loved going to events where the Detroit glitteraiti participated and took the job. I knew a lot of people and it was an easy thing for me to approach and photograph them. That all changed this night as I was wandering through the tables looking for good photos for my assignment. I was crazy starstruck and passed by her table several times trying to get up the nerve to approach. I think it became pretty obvious, because by the time I finally got up the courage to introduced myself and ask for a photo of her party, the response from Aretha as she held out her hand was, "I thought you'd never ask." #scenesfrombillslife #aretha #detroit #blackandwhite #film

Tonight on live Instagram, studio visits with Bill

Tonight on live Instagram, studio visits with Bill. Story and history of the Photostock Festival with special guests. If you’ve been, please join in! I’ll be watching names and inviting people to tell a brief story.

Gone Fishing #wycamplake #emmetcountymichigan #tak

Gone Fishing #wycamplake #emmetcountymichigan #takeabreak

Instagram post 17888929948529591

Instagram post 17888929948529591

It was a drizzly October 14th of 1984, the Detroit

It was a drizzly October 14th of 1984, the Detroit Tigers have just clinched the World Series and I am outside the stadium minutes away from my first experience with a riot baton. Thousands of people have already gathered in anticipation and, understandably, the celebration is wild and the people streaming out of the stadium are only adding to the chaos. The Detroit police are unprepared and in an attempt to disperse the massive crowd, they have begun a brutal march with horses, shields and batons. On the other side of their line with the revelers are several police cars and as soon as the crowd realizes they are unattended, they turn their attention to destroying the vehicles, several of which were later burned. I’m photographing the destruction of one of the cars and all of a sudden a cop beating a kid with a blackjack (that he denied having until my pictures came out) literally fell out of the crowd at my feet. The cop was viciously beating the kid and, knowing I only had one more frame on the roll, I waited to get the best shot I could of the action. I then discovered I had one frame left and made the final exposure of the savaged car (which was later flipped and burned) I then headed toward the police line where I was eventually given a few strokes of a riot baton from a big cop without a badge.

The next day, I submitted the images and my story to the Detroit Free Press where it was discovered that I had a picture of the only arrest of the night (even though I saw many dragged into the stadium by cops). The subject of my photo was named Nick LaBate and he was being charged with the arson of the police car even though I know I had proof he was taken away before it was flipped and burned. I was contacted by his lawyer and eventually went to court where I testified with my negatives and the pictures showing the sequence of the photographs that proved his innocence of the charge against him. It was an incredible moment when the judge dismissed the case. intimidation toward me from the Detroit police and I learned a lot about the ability of some of them to lie and smear people to protect themselves, but I’ll save it for now. #scenesfrombillslife #detroit #riots

I've photographed a lot of people and we're all ju

I've photographed a lot of people and we're all just...people, but sometimes the fanboy in me takes over and I marvel at the tiny degrees of separation to major influences on our culture that I get myself into. For instance, this guy. This is Eric Burdon of the Animals and War. Not only were this guy's vocals one of the songs in the soundtrack of the lives of millions. He was great friends and confidant of Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon and more. How do you not think of these things when in the presence of someone like this, let alone be his relief from boredom at yet another gig?

It's April 14, 1989 and Eric Burdon, long past the prime of his career, is performing a gig at Detroit's St. Andrews Hall. There is always a long wait between load-in, set-up, soundcheck and then the actual show and it can be mind numbing. Most artists spend this time in a hotel watching TV or something. However, Eric is hanging out upstairs in the Robbie Burns room of the hall by himself. Hoping for just such an opportunity, I've come early in the day and I peek my head in, apologize for the interruption and as easy as that begin a fascinating conversation that turns into a very cool hang. All culminating in his comfort with allowing me to photograph him over the time we spent together. And later, after telling many great stories and making my day, he got onstage and totally blew away the small crowd as if it was a stadium gig from the old days. Eric recently had his 79th birthday and is still out there working the stage. #ericburdon #scenesfrombillslife #blackandwhite #filmphotography #film #detroit #theanimals

It's March of 1992 and I've had the strangest frie

It's March of 1992 and I've had the strangest friendship develop with Dee Dee Ramone (shades) who I first met at the Limelight in New York a couple years earlier with Joey Ramone. Not surprisingly, Dee Dee loved music and had moved to the Detroit area after kicking and would hang at a club not far from my house run by Jim Lessnau called Sully's. All the greats played there and there will be more stories to come from Sully's. We met again backstage in Detroit in early 1992 and after being somewhat snubbed at an event I photographed, I was able to get a shot of him into Rolling Stone. It was quite a coup for him and he was so happy. We became friends and would hang out from time to time, see music and he would sometimes come over or call me at night and talk on and on. He was trying so hard to stay clean and told me he was very afraid of dying. He was only 40 at the time, but good friends of his, Johnny Thunders and Stiv Baters had already passed and he was afraid he would be soon. It was amazing hearing stories from him and I once asked why me of all people. His answer in his heavy Dee Dee accent was, "Because you're normal people and I need normal people in my life." For a couple years, I did some photography for him as well and these were the first studio images ever shot of his band "Chinese Dragons". I get requests for these every couple of years as they are very rare and I've not yet allowed them to be published other than whatever Dee Dee did with them himself. They were shot in the room he was living in near my house at the Travelodge on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn, Michigan. As with many odd friendships, we drifted apart and he ended up moving out to Los Angeles where just about 10 years after these were shot, he passed on due to an overdose. Extremely sad knowing how afraid he was to go, yet the power of that drug pulled him back in. #scenesfrombillslife #deedeeramone #chinesedragons #detroit #ramones #blackandwhite #filmphotography #film #rockandroll

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