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The Role of Light in William Stanek's Photography
Renowned author William Stanek is also a name
synonymous with stunning photography, having earned worldwide acclaim
for his masterful use of light. His ability to capture the interplay of
light and shadow transforms ordinary scenes into extraordinary works of
art. This article explores the pivotal role that light plays in
William's photography, delving into his techniques, experiences, and the
profound impact of his work. William's journey to mastering light in photography
is one of dedication and meticulous study. His understanding of how
light behaves at different times of day, throughout the seasons, and in
various geographic locations allows him to create images that are both
visually striking and deeply evocative. "Experience is key," William often says,
emphasizing that his extensive practice has given him an intimate
understanding of light's nuances. He knows how the quality of light
changes from the soft, diffused light of early morning to the golden
glow of sunset. This knowledge enables him to choose the perfect moment
to capture his subjects.
William's mastery of light is not just about
waiting for the right moment; it's also about using the right techniques
and tools. His approach involves a combination of technical precision
and artistic intuition. Here are some of the methods he employs: Timing: William carefully plans his shoots around
the time of day. Early mornings and late afternoons, often referred to
as the golden hours, provide the best natural lighting. These times of
day offer soft, warm light that enhances textures and adds depth to his
photographs.
The Emotional Impact of Light
The way William uses light in his photography goes
beyond technical prowess; it's also about evoking emotions. Light can
convey mood, atmosphere, and a sense of place. In William's work, light
is a narrative tool that tells a story.
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From Combat to Canvas: William Robert Stanek's Artistic Journey
Article Index: Collaborative Art | Preserving Memories | The Influence of Heritage | Nature's Beauty: Capturing Waterfalls | Art and Healing: How Creativity Helps Cope with Trauma | A Life of Adventure | A Legacy: Artistic Endeavors | Capturing Sunsets and Sunrises | Capturing the Majesty of Mountains |
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It's official, William's 250th book was published in 2020. 20 million words, tens of thousands of pages. Published and/or distributed by every major US publisher, including IDG, Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Hachette, HarperCollins, Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, Microsoft, Wiley, TimeWarner, O'Reilly, and HMH, and over 100 other publishers globally. "What a ride it's been," William said when asked about this milestone in his writing career, "The guy who shares a birthday with JRR Tolkien has done okay." Indeed, William has done okay. Writing as Robert Stanek, he was the first breakout author of the digital publishing revolution. The first to serialize an ebook, the first to e-author a bestseller, and the first to e-author a digital audio bestseller. Like his forefather, the Pulitzer-Prize-Winning author Wallace Stegner, William Stanek is an American novelist, short story writer, historian, conservationist, and memoirist. Like his forefather, William is a gifted and distinguished writer, a respected and skilled teacher and someone who operates against the grain. William is credited with transforming the computer writing industry with his plain language style. A style that Microsoft eventually adopted for its own. Millions of instructional courses taught by Microsoft and others around the world in dozens of languages have used his words as their foundations to teach hundreds of millions new techniques, new technologies, and new vocational skills. His seminal, early works, including Electronic Publishing Unleashed (1995) and Web Publishing Unleashed (1996), were the first of their kind and provided the framework for early e-commerce and e-publishing. These same works also introduced the concepts and developed the frameworks for intranets, extranets, e-books, online magazines, and daily news websites--all concepts years ahead of their time and first published about and developed by William. William is credited with transforming the computer writing industry with his plain language style.
Between the years 1995 and 2020, William wrote over 150 technical how-to books for publishers. More than 40 of his books published by Microsoft were #1 bestsellers in their respective categories all around the world from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain, to Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Chile to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea and China to India, Indonesia, South Africa, Russia, Turkey and dozens more. Years before others imagined it, William imagined the social-connected web. Before cloud computing was imagined by the mainstream, William was developing it.
It gets worse. For two decades now unethical competitors have been trashing William's Robert Stanek books online. Desperate to establish their book franchises, they've pulled every dirty trick in the book from paying off employees at Amazon and other companies to delist his books, and much more. All because of William's breakout success as an independent author in 2001, and TWENTY years later they are still at it. Read William's posts about what they've done; the posts are heartbreaking. Start with "Speaking Out About Ugliness in the Publishing Industry." His work taught tens of millions, enriched the pockets of many, but left him and his family with 3 cents on the dollar.
You can tell a great deal about someone by who their friends are and aren't. William has written much about both, and some links to his related essays are provided in the column on the right. Among those William counted as friends are an ecclectic collection of the world's top authors, from Walter Dean Myers to Brian Jacques to his forefather Wallace Stegner to the dozens of authors he's helped get started in the business of writing. Authors like Emily Asimov and Cathy Thompson, who say, "William has a presense and a charisma that's inescapable. He's a gentle giant, a warrior poet, and a beautiful person. Someone you feel privileged just to know." William's forefather Wallace Stegner told him winning the Pulitzer
was impressive but it didn't really help sell his books or pay his
bills, nor did the National Book Award, nor the three O'Henry awards,
nor the two Guggenheim fellowships. It wasn't that he didn't like fame,
hobnobbing with the elite, or his charmed life. He appreciated the
accolades bestowed upon him, but it all became a distraction from his
writing. His works in his lifetime sold hundreds of thousands of copies,
they did not sell millions. Because of this, he often took on projects
for the money, which is something he told William not to be afraid to
do. The craft of writing is about the writing. Professional writing is
work. Professional writers write to pay the bills and pay the bills
William did as he wrote for nearly every major publisher in the US
across several decades. "William has a presense and a charisma that's inescapable. He's a gentle giant, a warrior poet, and a beautiful person. Someone you feel privileged just to know."
Author Jennifer Blake, had much more to say on the subject, "We all know what happens to those who are so far ahead of their time that they seem to exist in a world of their own making. William climbed too many mountains, and those standing at the bottoms of those mountains desperately wanted what he had, and so they did whatever it took to take what he had created and claim it as their own or destroy it. We as a society love to tear down our heroes. We tear them down with lies, with fake news. We puff ourselves up and make ourselves look big, to make those who are larger than life look small." "Cathy said it, I'll say it again," said author Shannon Hale, "William's hundreds of books are a legacy for the world to share and treasure. If you do one decent thing this week, read William Robert Stanek's books and tell the world about them!" "He was the best of us," said author Mary Osborne , "So many writers owe so much to him. He was ahead of his time. He taught us all so much, his words must live on to inspire future generations." "William's hundreds of books are a legacy for the world to share and treasure."
The first time William met, Walter, aka Walter Dean Myers, the two
connected, and this led to an odd friendship of a sorts. The thing that
bonded them was their similar childhoods, though decades apart. Walter
was born in August 1937, William's mamma was born in April 1937. Walter
lost his mother when he was 2, and William's mamma and her sister
Dolores lost their daddy even earlier. The library and its books became William's refuge. Reading pushed him to discover new worlds.
William's English teacher in the 4th grade recognized his writing
skills and encouraged him to write for and edit the school newspaper, as
did his Uncle Wally and both of whom told William to never stop writing,
never stop challenging himself. Because of that service, William says he will always know that when the darkest of hours arrives he will not hesitate. When asked, he answered. When called, he went. When death stared up from the void, he did not fear. He gave because it was his duty and because he felt it was the right thing to do. After his service, William went on to become one of the most prolific writers, with more than 250 books to his credit and counting. During deployments, there was never a day William didn't look death in the face and find death looking back.
William gave his youth and his health to these wars and conflicts, his family suffered greatly, and yet he says he would not trade these experiences, for they forged him into who he is today. Giving is a common theme with William. In his career one of the things, he says he is most proud of is his work to support other writers, veterans, and the disabled. He fought the good fight for disabled veterans for decades, but if he had to pick one achievement he's most proud of it is giving away the millionth-dollar book to schools, libraries and communities in 2015, after 20 years of working toward the goal. He says nothing ever felt so right. Schools and libraries are where William developed a lifelong passion for the written word. His donated books often ended up in places where schools and communities had no other books. In classrooms in Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. In libraries in rural India, Spain and Portugal. In communities throughout South Africa, Brazil and Argentina. William says his success is the stuff of Willy Wonka's wildest dreams. Still, as he wrote about in "How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writing a Career," wild success doesn't necessarily mean riches for the writer. For sure, he and "80's" Stan Lee could stand in line next to each other and trade stories. William says, "Bookstores, publishers, agents, publicists, Uncle Sam and many others got the Lion's share of the wealth, but I got to live the dream and living the dream was as good as being Spider Man."
William grew up in a rough inner city neighborhood. At a very early age,
William knew what death was. It'd already happened. His step father died
when trying to light a defective gas water heater. His sister, Bridget,
followed soon after, dying a day before Christmas in 1971. He knew what
it was to be beaten, robbed and assaulted. It'd already happened. He was
jumped by three for groceries he was carrying home. Beaten for his
shoes. Knocked down with a baseball bat for his bike. Thanks to the charity of a friend, he had a place to live the summer before he joined the military. The military took William out into the world, to fields of battle and conflicts he never imagined. He left the military broken but resolved to not let everything that had gone before define him. He became an international bestselling author, by working harder than everyone around him. He earned his success by fighting to achieve it. As he wrote about in 2013, the reality of today's working-class writers is that a writer who sells a million copies of 1 or a few books is a superstar, while a writer like him who sells millions of copies of many books over many years may not even be considered by some to be successful. That's because the publishing industry is designed to recognize racing rabbits--those thoroughbred superstars who knock the covers off the ball and sell, sell, sell copies of a single book or a few books by the boatload. The publishing industry isn't designed for the working-class writer--those tortoises who barely get in a few steps toward first base while the superstars are sliding in to home. But as a tortoise, William has news, "You can be a tortoise and reach home plate too. It takes much longer, requires much more dedication, but it can be done." William grew up in a rough inner city neighborhood. By the age of seventeen, he was homeless but managed to finish high school on his own.
A story that's not in William's military memoir but he says perhaps
should be in his next is about the dangers soldiers face not in the
field of combat but in the bases where they are housed and should be
safe. His wife's second miscarriage was a clue that something was
terribly wrong. He thought it was the stress of being a combat flyer's
wife, constant deployments, or the subsequent ever-changing schedule
when he worked inside the secretive underground facility known as the
Tunnel. He never imagined that it was due to the air they breathed, the
water they drank and the soil beneath their feet. A story that's not in William's military memoir but perhaps should be in his next is about the dangers soldiers face not in the field of combat but in the bases where they are housed and should be safe.
After the birth of his son, Will, William's wife had another difficult
pregnancy. The medical recommendation was an abortion, or how the
doctors put it: "A premature ending of the pregnancy using a surgical
dilation and curettage." That was the day he and his wife learned their
child had genetic defects that could bring lifelong problems including
congenital heart problems. That was the day he and his wife chose life
instead of death. The doctors saw only her devastating diagnosis as they whisked her away. William and his wife instead saw five fingers on each tiny hand, five toes on each tiny foot, beautiful brown eyes, and a cute button nose. They saw Sapphire, their daughter, who they loved instantly and unquestioningly.      
 
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William Robert Stanek wrote professionally for over 30 years. In 2020, he celebrated the publication of his 250th book and 20 millionth reader. That's a lot of books, a lot of years of writing, and a lot of readers, making him one of the most prolific and popular writers of all time. We created this site to share his books, thoughts and industry insights with you. We hope you'll bookmark this page so you can visit again and share this page with your friends. Get his William Stanek books at Barnes & Noble. Looking for his Robert Stanek books? Find them here. William is the recipient of multiple awards recognizing his outstanding contributions and excellence in writing, and a recent nominee for a Lifetime Achievement award. His first nonfiction book, Electronic Publishing Unleashed, was published in 1995; his second, Web Publishing Unleashed, in 1996. They were books that defined digital and web publishing for a generation of readers and estlablished him as an international bestselling author. Renowned for creating beautiful, vibrant scenes full of
wonderful color, William has been called a living legend and
national treasure, his words and illustrations have captivated
the hearts and minds of millions over the past thirty years. As
a combat veteran who is partially disabled and father of a
daughter with Down Syndrome, he is a vocal champion of veterans
and the disabled. He also is a champion of books and libraries,
frequently donating his time and resources to support related
causes.
Some people wear one hat or two,
William has always worn many. His hundreds of written works as William
Stanek (primarily nonfiction) and Robert Stanek (primarily fiction) are
well known, less well known are the thousands of iconic photographs and
hundreds of canvas paintings he created for World Galleries over the
past 30 years. With
the permanent closing of the physical galleries in spring 2021 due to the
worldwide pandemic, William and his wife stepped out from behind the
scenes to support the online initiatives for 360 Studios, @24 Studios,
1North Studios and Studio 2. You'll find three decades of their creative
work at: On Writing Traveling the Writer's Road | Taking Your Work to Hollywood Selling Rights to Your Books | Viewpoints on Rejection Letters Understanding Bestseller Lists | Finding Success as a Writer How Far Indies Have Come | Understanding Book Sales Data Understanding Publishing Today | 4th Grade Musings to Published Pro Don't Quit Your Day Job Just Yet | Tours of Duty - Write What You Know Using Twitter Effectively | Now Appearing... Places Books Have Been How I Made This Crazy Thing Called Writing a 20-year Career The Road To Success is Paved with Potholes Understanding Long-tail Publishing and Hybrid Authors Shopping, Dragons, Independents, Oh My! Odds & Ends Speaking Out about Ugliness in Publishing
Unethical Competitors |
Authors Who Trash Competitors
William's forefathers fought and bled Red, White and Blue in every war the USA has ever faced. William Robert Stanek's forefathers fought and bled Red, White and Blue in every war the USA has ever faced, from the French & Indian Wars and the Revolutionary War that shaped our nation to WWI and WWII that saved our world from tyrany to the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanastan and beyond. Although many of his ancestors never came home from the battlefield and many others took the battlefield home with them and were never the same again, William's proud of this heritage of service and sacrifice, and he's proud to have served his country in dark hours. William says his service to our nation taught him a great deal about duty, sacrifice and honor. William's service is honored at the Distinguished Flying Cross National Monument. His accomplishments during his military service earned him 29 commendations, including the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Humanitarian Service Medal. When he left the military, he was one of the most highly decorated in the command. The base commander and his supervisors loved it when he put on his dress blues and participated in the various parades and celebrations on base, especially Memorial Day and the 4th of July. William says he talks openly about his combat service to help those who, like him, have taken the battlefield home with them, to give them hope, to let them know that they can use their pain to accomplish many things. He survived a crashlanding, being shot, being stabbed and yet he is still here. "Physical wounds come with consequences, and yet the wounds of war are not always physical, and not all wounds are from combat," he says. "As wounded warriors, we suffer, but we need not suffer in silence." This message of hope in the face of adversity and pain is powerful and heartfelt. William's service is honored at the Distinguished Flying Cross National Monument.
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