Nebraskan native Bill Frakes is a visual storyteller and educator based in Florida who has worked in every US state and in more than 138 countries for a wide variety of editorial and advertising clients. His advertising clientele is vast ranging from Apple to CocaCola - and pretty much everyone else in between, and has been published virtually in every major general interest publication in the world. Additionally, his still photographs and short documentary films have been featured on hundreds of websites as well as on most major television networks, and is currently on the masthead of Sports Illustrated.
Furthermore, Bill's resume displays an array of awards and distinctions; he won the coveted Newspaper Photographer of the Year award in the prestigious Pictures of the Year competition. He was a member of the Miami Herald staff that won the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of Hurricane Andrew, the Gold Medal by World Press Photo, Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, as well as hundreds of national and international awards for his incredible work.
Bill has taught at the University of Miami, the University of Florida and the University of Kansas as an adjunct professor and lecturer. During the last five years, he has lectured at more than 100 universities discussing multimedia and photojournalism. Through his production company, Straw Hat Visuals, he prepares educational content that is disseminated in multi touch electronic books and platforms in 22 countries throughout North and South America. In 2010 and 2013, he served on the jury of World Press Photo.
But aside from the incredibly prestigious accomplishments Bill has picked up over the years with his impressive work, one project is considered probably his most important, and one that hits very close to home. The Nebraska Project, an incredibly beautiful collaboration with an equally impressive team, focuses on his homeland, to capture only that which a native can truly appreciate (though those of us not from Nebraska would view the project and long to visit ourselves). Bill spent the majority of 2014 traveling Nebraska, creating photographs, filming video and collecting stories simply because he loves his homeland and wants to share it with the world.
KEEP UP WITH BILL FRAKES: WEBSITE | THE NEBRASKA PROJECT