About Bill Crandall
Washington DC native Bill Crandall is a photographer, arts educator/organizer, curator, and musician committed to building both global connections and local community.
Bill's photos have been published regularly in the Washington Post, New York Times, and a host of other US and international publications. His personal documentary work focuses on the human dimension of sweeping historical changes, taking nuanced, poetic, and empathetic looks at topics from DC gentrification to cultural identity in post-Soviet Belarus.
He has won awards and grants, exhibited widely at home and abroad, and has given talks about his work at the National Press Club, American University’s Metropolitan Policy Center, FotoweekDC, and the World Bank, among others. He has also been a judge for photo competitions and portfolio reviews, including FotoweekDC and ArtsLink.
Bill was voted Best Visual Artist in Washington City Paper's 2015 "Best of DC" reader poll, and his personal work has been published in Washington Post Magazine and National Geographic’s photo blog. His 2012 book, “The Waiting Room”, was the first-ever photobook to comprehensively explore contemporary Belarus, and was honored by the International Photobook Awards. In a review of the book, Voice of America called Bill “an American master”.
In 2006 he organized and curated a major photo exhibition on the twentieth anniversary of Chernobyl, which opened in NYC following a special UN General Assembly special meeting commemorating the disaster.
In 2016 Bill created an innovative music-photo hybrid project, imagining the first humans to leave Earth forever for a distant, barren planet - the implied message being the need to safeguard our only home. A live-score projection and performance of the work capped that year's FotoweekDC festival closing party.
For fifteen years, Bill taught darkroom and digital photography at Washington DC's prestigious Maret School.
Bill lives in Takoma Park MD with his wife and daughter.