Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be right inside a breaking wave? A new photography project from actor and photographer (in equal measures) Bill Ward has used cutting-edge techniques that completely immerse viewers within the ocean itself, becoming one with the water and feeling its raw energy in a way rarely visualised before. All images by Bill Ward Photography
Any avid soap fans among you will no doubt recognise Bill Ward. After all, he played Charlie Stubbs in Coronation Street for 400+ episodes in the mid 00s, then James Barton in Emmerdale for 300+ episodes between 2013-17. His acting career has spanned stage as well as the screen, having encompassed more than 60 plays both in the West End of London and across the UK, including a stint in Legally Blonde at Bristol Hippodrome and the role of Polixenes in the critically-acclaimed Tobacco Factory Theatres’ production of The Winter’s Tale earlier this year.
When speaking to The Bristol Magazine, Bill was in the second week of a UK and Ireland tour of The Shawshank Redemption, playing Warden Stammas.
This gig will keep him busy until June next year, but despite the Bristol-based actor’s prolific career (he’s lived in the city for around 12 years, returning after being a student here in the 80s because it’s an “open-minded, free-thinking city; I loved the vibrancy, it’s got so much going on culturally and you can be in the countryside in 10 minutes, so I always knew I wanted to return”), it was his other profession – photography – we were diving into ahead of the release of his new book IMMERSIVE, published by Kozu Books. This book is the result of a ground-breaking four-year investigation into water, energy and movement using his pioneering Ocean Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) technique.
As a photographer, Bill has won the Adobe Prize at 2015 Landscape Photographer Of The Year, Best Seascape at Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year 2020, and gives talks at photography shows, societies and clubs all over the world. He’s also an ambassador for Pentax Cameras, on the pro-team for 3LT, and runs regular workshops, courses and tours for Light and Land.
A life through the lens
But let’s rewind the camera film for a moment. Photography is anything but a recent venture for Bill, who “had a Kodak Instamatic when I was six or seven. I’ve still got the photos from those days – they’re mostly dogs and cars. Me and my brother used to ride around Newcastle [where he grew up] on our bikes, photographing posh cars that belonged to other people.”
Eventually he started taking pictures of the natural world, going out along the Northumbrian coastline, photographing the beaches, castles and the sea. “We also spent a lot of time in the Lake District, Ullswater was a favourite spot, and down in Cornwall for family holidays. Those places made a big impression on me. I’d just sit and stare at the water.”
Bill travelled for over a year in his 20s and took a camera everywhere, photographing people, markets, landscapes. “So photography has always been there.” Professionally, it really took off around 2009 or 2010 when he was waiting on a TV series gig in Canada and had been contracted not to take other acting work until he knew whether it was going ahead.
“I suddenly had four months free, which is rare for me, so I decided to give myself a photographic project, choosing to chronicle winter on the east coast of England. That winter turned out to be one of the coldest in decades, lots of snow and blizzards, so I ended up photographing beaches in extreme conditions.”
Since Bill exhibited this work at the Royal Exchange in Manchester he’s split his time roughly 50/50 between acting and photography.
Over the years, Bill’s taken lots of pictures in Bristol, around local parks and whatever catches his eye. “But I am drawn to water, and I will seek out water, literally, wherever I am, especially on acting jobs,” he explains. “If it’s a city, I’ll look for urban streams, fountains, you name it, and if I’m in the countryside, I’ll look for waterfalls, rivers. If I’m at the sea, I’ll look for spots where the river meets the ocean and
the shoreline.”
“I’ve been experimenting with ICM since 2012,” says Bill. “It’s about moving the body with the camera, using your mind, heart and body together. That connected very naturally with my fascination with water.”
When asked about his influences, Bill cites Doug Chinnery, Chris Friel, and Valda Bailey: “They were at the forefront of intentional camera movement (ICM) in the UK, and when I first came across Doug’s work around 2011, I was completely blown away. Doug actually wrote the foreword to my new book.”
Earlier influences also include Freeman Patterson, a Canadian photographer doing movement-based work in the 1980s, and Russian photographers from the mid-20th Century. “But Doug, Chris, and Valda really inspired me to explore it myself.”
Slowly but shorely
For years, Bill photographed beaches from the shore, but eventually he began wading in with his camera.
“At first I just waded in barefoot, then in swim shorts and then wearing wetsuits. I just held the camera above my head while waves broke over me. I broke a few cameras that way, but I could see the potential. Eventually, I invested in full waterproof camera housing, so I could really throw myself into it.”
This project, which would go on to form the new book, became about harnessing the ocean’s force. “Surfing is about working with the natural energy of water, riding a wave rather than fighting it. I wanted to do the same with photography, to see how the camera could ‘surf’ that energy. That’s really what IMMERSIVE is about.”
Bill’s search for waves has taken him across Britain and beyond. “Locally, I’ve done a lot in the Bristol Channel, especially on the Welsh side around Porthcawl, Southerndown, and Kenfig. The Channel has the second highest tidal range in the world, which creates a very particular environment. You get the brown water silt mixing with storm clouds and it’s hard to see where one ends and the other begins.” He has also swum in Cornwall, Northumberland, the Outer Hebrides and Brittany for the book’s images. A lifelong surfer, Bill’s relationship with the sea runs deep. “Being in the water has always been a big part of my life. Surfing in particular is about symbiosis, about working with a wave rather than against it, and that idea really feeds into IMMERSIVE. It’s also about joy; that rush you get when you’re in sync with the water.”
The physical process of photographing inside the surf is intense. “It’s very physical, quite exhausting at times. It feels improvisational. You’re diving under waves, swimming through surf, often being knocked about. You can’t control the sea; you can only respond to it. Every photograph is a collaboration with the water. It’s the opposite of the idea of ‘capturing’ an image. For me, photography is an ensemble pursuit, like a piece in acting, working with Mother Nature to create something together.”
Though his acting life is collaborative, Bill’s photographic work is always solitary. “Photography is my mindfulness, my way of recharging. Acting is very extroverted, whereas photography gives me space for introversion and reflection. The two balance each other nicely.”
With IMMERSIVE being printed in Bath (available to pre-order now and due for delivery in October/November), Bill is already looking ahead. “The book partly grew out of an exhibition I did at the Mall Galleries in London in September 2024, and I’d love to exhibit more widely, especially in Bristol. At the same time, I’ll keep balancing acting and photography. The Shawshank Redemption tour will take me through to next summer, but I’ll also continue with photographic projects and teaching workshops. The two careers really feed into each other and I wouldn’t want to give up either.”
