Link photog Bill Manley leaving the business… to brew beer!
Brianne Warner, editor extraordinare of Link, announced this morning:
A few weeks ago, Link photographer Bill Manley got a call from Sierra Nevada.
Yes, that Sierra Nevada. The seventh-largest brewing company in the country.
Bill has long been a beer fan, nut, aficionado. In his beer column, which runs in Link and Flavor, he writes with expert knowledge in an everyman tone. Kevin, the beer expert at Grape and Gourmet, reports that customers come in regularly carrying the column. One day, Bill hopes to open his own brewery.
Flavor, by the way, is the Virginian-Pilot’s weekly food section. It comes out on Wednesdays. Here’s what the column looked like in today’s paper:
Back to Brianne:
Bill had been posting his columns on Beer Advocate’s Web site, where lots of beer writers chat. The owner of Sierra Nevada saw one of his reviews of one of their beers and put a call into the works. Would he want to come take photos and write copy for Sierra Nevada?
Bill asked: Well, can I learn to brew beer, too? Sierra Nevada replied: Sure thing.
It is with a heavy heart, then, that we announce Bill is leaving Link to move to California and leap the into beer business.
In the nearly two years that Bill has been here, he has brought an incredible amount of ideas and energy to Link. He has produced some stunning documentary photography and portraits, such as the black-and-white holy hip-hop photographs.
Another quick time out — here are three samples of the Holy Hip-Hop series. As always, tag the thumbnail for a larger view:
Again, back to Brianne:
He has written cover stories, including a series on how to brew beer and an interview with the Beerdrinker of the Year. He envisioned the Link guest artist series, in which a different local artist designed our cover every Monday for a month. [We blogged about that project here.] He has created photo illustrations for winter beer (with the bubbles forming snowflakes), grocery shopping online (a computer made of fruits and veggies), a snow-less winter (a kid making a snow angel in the grass), along with numerous other clever covers. (Like today’s Link.)
His photos and illustrations have also won several awards this year, including second place in the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism competition.
Those of you who have worked with Bill know how creative, flexible, smart and skilled he is. We will miss him.
There will be send-off for Bill starting at 4:30 p.m. on June 13 at (where else?) the Taphouse. Please come, buy him a pint or two and wish him the best of luck in his new adventure.
Brianne
I can’t find all the photos Brianne mentioned, but here are a few of my own favorites:
That third one was shot last week when a huge storm passed over this area, knocking down power lines and blowing over trees. Bill simply walked out to the parking lot and — Bam! — instant centerpiece art.
Find Bill’s portfolio at SportsShooter.
Best wishes, Bill! Enjoy that beer!
May 28th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Dude freakin’ rocks and deserves every chance he gets to have a job this awesome. He’s probably the best photographer I’ve ever worked with.
By the way, he’s great to drink beer with because he knows his stuff. He’s introduced me to a good number of cool beers I would have never tried otherwise.
And he’s actually done the home-brewing thing before. The “Linkbrau” he made was amazing.