The saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And it certainly echoes through the extraordinary work of 1990 Apollo graduate, Todd Williams.
Williams is a professional photographer who has traveled the world photographing people and places. His clients have included Polaris, Victory Motorcycles, Indian Motorcycles, Vogue, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Nike, Gatorade and many more.
It all started with National Geographic and borrowing a college friend’s camera.
As a child, Williams remembers paging through National Geographic. Inspired by the images throughout the world, he thought it would be cool to see those places and photograph them.
By the time he attended Bemidji State University, he was looking for a hobby and remembered those National Geographic images from his childhood.
“I borrowed my friend’s camera,” explains Williams. “I’d go out and shoot wildlife. It was just something fun to do. There was not much to do up in Bemidji.”
Williams graduated with a degree in graphic design and moved to Texas where he worked in the industry for a year. At that point, he knew he wanted to pursue photography.
With some connections, he moved to New York in 1995 and became a photography assistant.
“The best place to learn photography is New York,” says Williams with conviction. “I became a photo assistant for many magazines, taking photographs of stills, life and cosmetics. I did the circuit and got the opportunity to travel around the world.”
Williams later hustled to go out on his own.
“A lot of people pay to get their master’s,” explains Williams. “[In this industry], I was really getting paid to earn a master’s degree [with experience].”
Williams’ agent was out to dinner one evening with a young idealist named James Marshall and suggested Williams and Marshall meet. Marshall’s idea was to travel cross-country on a motorcycle as an “everyday American” while photographing the trip. The two met and hit it off, and the idea morphed into asking people along the way about the American dream. Does it still exist?
And so began the Netflix documentary series, The American Dream Project. The pair, with a video crew in tow, began their journey. With the help of Williams’ connection to Indian Motorcycles, they began traveling from the east coast to the west.
Along their journey, they stayed with families in small towns, doing work for their keep and asking the question, “What is the state of the American Dream?”
“I’ve always enjoyed meeting strangers like in New York,” explains Williams. “You never really know anyone. It’s great to get to know them. Traveling cross-country was really fun. We’d stop in small towns, help people, and talk. The common theme: we’re all human. There are still good things here in America.”
The American Dream Project became a Netflix hit, nominated for the 44th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Best Special Class – Short Format Daytime Program.
In a tone of sheer wonder, Williams remembers, “The Emmy thing was pretty cool. I’m from St. Joe, Minnesota! So, we got tuxes and did the red carpet. People were taking our photo and I realized it was pretty cool.”
Williams continues to photograph. His resides now in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where he houses his studio, but he spends several months a year in Venice Beach, California continuing his work commercially. His next adventure is photographing the auto industry.
“You’re trying to sell a vision. Some days it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Williams reflects.
However, looking back at his own career thus far, he remembers, “Be smart. Be kind and creative. Keep reinventing yourself, and style . . . have an eye for it and sell your vision.”
Todd and I grew up together playing hockey and were both at BSU. Later on we did a photo shoot of me in my Native American pow wow regalia. It was a cool day. Great pics.