With all the success and popularity of his photographs, you would think that CHS alumni Will Holder is a trained and seasoned professional photographer. His ocean inspired photography has been making splashes into different homes, cafes, and bars around San Diego. Holder has nearly 900 followers on Instagram and 760 likes on his Facebook photography page. A couple months ago his pictures were on display at Bottlecraft in Little Italy. Last month, at Pannikin Coffee & Tea in Encinitas. Last week he was part of a local art show at North Park’s U-31 Bar and Cocktail Lounge. Will Holder is making quite a name for himself, and yet he bought a camera and started shooting for the first time just over a year ago.
I met up with Holder at Cafe 1134 to discuss and find out more about his work. To my surprise he showed up sans camera, but he did have his big buddy golden retriever Mac, and a big ol’ beard, a work of art in itself. I grew up with Will, kindergarten through high school graduation. He’s the same blonde, happy guy, but with more confidence and that beard. He was so stoked on his success and proud of his pictures.
Holder grew up near the ocean, on the ocean, and in the ocean. Spending his childhood between homes in Imperial Beach and Coronado, the coastline was his constant neighbor. Saltwater runs deep, and is the clear inspiration for his photography. Most of his pictures are taken on different San Diego beaches, but his favorite place to shoot is up in Big Sur and along the Central Coast. His favorite places offer absolutely picturesque settings. You cannot take a bad picture of these places, but Holder’s photographs capture their natural, salty good-looks in a unique way that somehow magnifies their beauty. For the past year, Holder has been taking pictures without any formal training. He carries his digital Canon Rebel T3i with him everywhere. It has been with him on road trips. He takes it with him on different hikes around San Diego and his daily beach outings in town. It is waiting for him after surf or body surf session, usually perfect timing to snap sunset shots. Holder takes and posts photos every single day. He has one digital camera with one 200mm lens and one 55mm lens, a goPro, and his iPhone. His go-to camera is the Canon digital, which he, astonishingly enough, does not have a waterproof case for. As he puts it, “I get stupidly close to the water with my camera.” So far so good though, actually, so far so great.
Though Holder is a year out of college, graduating from SDSU in 2012, this semester he has enrolled in a film class at San Diego City College. He is starting to use film for this first time. A Nikonos underwater film camera is the newest addition his photography tools. When I met up with him, he told me that it was just a week ago he developed his first film. He seemed dubious about learning to work with Photoshop, but also excited for all the opportunities it could bring to every photo. Until now, he has been filtering and editing his pictures on iPhoto. So, he is enrolled in a photography class, he bought the book, listens to the lessons, and is learning the traditional rules of the trade now, but there is no doubt Will Holder will continue to express his unique POV and talent.
One of Holder’s more recent gigs is taking photos for ListenSD. ListenSD is a platform for viewing live shows and discovering new, local bands around the city. This was already Holder’s scene. He is a big indie music fan and regularly attends shows in different venues around San Diego. He connected with some people at ListenSD and now gets to take pictures at any music acts that come to town. This week he is taking photos at Lord Huron’s show at the Bellyup Tavern, where he will see the show for free, get back-stage access, etc. Basically, Will’s dream job. What came across most in my interview with Will is that he really is a simple guy. All he wants is to travel with his dog, his girl, and his buddies, take pictures, and listen to some good tunes.
Holder knows he has been very fortunate and is not going to take it for granted. He works to better his art every day. Like myself and all of his fans and followers, Holder is excited to see what he can do next. He will be showing his photographs again at U-31 Bar and Cocktail Lounge on March 26. Visit his websites williamholder.tumblr.com and willholderphotography.com to check out his rad pictures, and then like him on facebook.com/willholderphotography. I asked him to put a slideshow of his photographs together, check it out here!
