ArtistStudio
then nature came and put its touch on it. I just love that
effect.”
He also intentionally blurs some images.
“Have you seen an artist at work, sometimes … how
they’ll close their eyes and squint just a little bit? What
they’re looking for is the light and the color and the
change in those two things,” he explains.
By blurring his images, Cone softens the ugly side
of metropolitan life. The results often appear to be
100 years old. Traveling with one serious camera, a
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, he shoots Fujifilm Neopan 1600,
turning it over to well-known French photographer
François-Olivier Gouillart for processing, sometimes
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WBM march 2012
without cropping.
“It’s amazing film for contrast and grain — I
love the grain. It seems that digital is so much
more forgiving. With some cameras it seems
to find light where the human eye didn’t see
it,” Cone says.
“The other camera I have is for memories.
In Paris you do a ton of walking. It’s one of the
highlights of being there. It’s important I think
to have that memories camera with you at all
times that you just put into your pocket.”
Cone has a good time wherever he travels,
whether the wind blows him to Europe or
south of the border, he admits he has never
had a Paris day in Wilmington.
“I’m not Billy from North Carolina over
there. I’m Billy, citizen of the world.” — Marimar
McNaughton
Clockwise from left: Carnevale, Venice.
Antique shop rooster, Paris. Paris street
photography.