PC ‘godfather’ shares latest passion for nature, Oct. 25

Bill Atkinson, a software pioneer at Apple Computer, helped design one of the first personal computers, the Lisa, and also wrote the original Quickdraw, Hypercard and MacPaint software. He no longer works full-time in front of a computer though— his office is the outdoors. Atkinson is a nature photographer.

Atkinson makes fine-art prints using drum scans or digital capture, accurate color management, Adobe Photoshop to fine-tune images and large format inkjet printers.

Bill Atkinson, nature photographer, at work

Atkinson will share his color printing techniques at a lecture and slide show titled “Printing within the Stone,” from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday, Oct. 25, in the B. Thomas Golisano College auditorium.

From 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Oct. 26, Atkinson will give a presentation about the design of the Macintosh computer, sharing rare photographs illustrating the choices made in designing the graphical user interface. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Macintosh. Atkinson’s presentation, “Twenty Years with Macintosh,” will be held in the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science auditorium.

Atkinson’s new book, Within the Stone: Nature’s Abstract Rock Art, features 72 abstract color photographs of polished rocks. To reproduce the colors of the rocks, Atkinson used highly concentrated inks and color management to expand the range of colors that can be printed with a standard four-color offset press.

“I’ve developed a digital printing method that harnesses the latest computer technologies to empower the photographer with a higher degree of artistic control than has ever been possible before,” says Atkinson.

Atkinson has shared his methods with many professional photographers, including Pat O’Hara, Frans Lanting, Jack Dykinga and the late Galen Rowell. Atkinson’s lectures are sponsored by the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences.