Billy Howard is the go-to photographer for the game-changing idealists of the world, from John Lewis to the Carter family. In fact, he was one of three photographers sanctioned to photograph First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s recent memorial service — a meaningful moment in a career spent documenting health, education and social themes around the globe. For seven years, he served on the board of Atlanta Celebrates Photography (now the Atlanta Center for Photography).
His wife, Laurie Shock, is more than just his muse and occasional Titian-haired model. She handles the storytelling from a different angle as founder of Shock Design Books, a boutique publishing house for high-end coffee table and art books that explore narratives with “elegance and clarity,” she says. “Whether they focus on an organization’s history, an artist’s life’s work or a nonprofit’s mission, they are all stories about people and our humanity.”
Shock and Howard currently are working on books for Woodward Academy and Cox Communications.
Credit: Billy Howard
Credit: Billy Howard
ArtsATL caught up with the busy couple to talk about connubial bliss and their creative life together:
Q: How did you two meet?
Laurie Shock: In 2000, we began working on a book project for the Centers for Disease Control. I was designing the book concept and working on a book cover design using one of Billy’s photographs as the dominant feature. I wanted to crop his photograph as part of the design — a major taboo and one that could send a photographer into fits.
I asked Billy to come to my studio where I could show him a mock-up and why the design worked better if I cropped his image. I had always enjoyed collaborating with him, but we didn’t socialize outside of work. That day Billy showed up with a bottle of red wine . . . I set the bottle down and moved right into making my case for cropping his photo. He was very quiet, and, when I was finished my presentation, he said, “Yeah, great! I love it!” Big pressure release. Then he asked if I would like to grab dinner.
It was the first time Billy and I sat down and talked at length about anything other than work. It felt easy . . . A business meeting turned into a first date.
Billy Howard: I was already smitten. I was not entirely innocent bringing over a bottle of wine. At the end of the night, I asked for a hug. She gave me a kiss, and I promptly stumbled into her gardenia bush. Before I got to the end of her street, I called her to tell her what a great night it was. Several months later, we were engaged, and after a few more months we were married.
Q: What first attracted you to each other?
Howard: Aside from the fact that I find her stunning, what I love is how easy it is to be with her. We fall into long conversations sometimes, and other times simply are together and quiet, enjoying the other’s presence. She is a gifted artist, and in working together I discovered her sense of design fit perfectly with design I love.
Shock: I admired Billy and was truly in awe of his work. His photography, well, it’s pure genius — especially his portraiture. Billy meets people with his heart, and that helps a relationship and trust to develop. Then he makes gorgeous, honest photographs. Pure beauty. Billy meets people where they are, and it’s very moving.
Credit: Billy Howard
Credit: Billy Howard
Q: What special qualities does your mate bring to the work that complement your own?
Shock: Our work has natural collaborative opportunities, and our skills are perfectly compatible. Billy will pull me in to design something he’s working on, and I’ll pull him in for a book I’m working on. But, over the past several years, we have worked on books together. We split the writing, Billy takes the photographs and I design, produce and publish the books. Billy is a much better writer than I am, and I’m in awe of his vocabulary, the ease with which he expresses ideas with depth and accessibility and his brilliant wit, which is vibrantly alive in everything he does.
Howard: We both have our own businesses, but we love to work together. We’ve co-written several school history books that I have also done the photography for and that Laurie designed and produced. When we aren’t working together on a project, we always support the work the other is doing.
Both Laurie and I had little formal training in our fields, and I think we have benefited from finding our own paths. In my view, Laurie is a genius at design, but, more than that, she is such a deep listener that she serves her clients well by imagining beyond what they could have dreamed themselves. It is more than a creative endeavor on her part; it is infused with a deep well of empathy that connects her with both the work and the person.
Credit: Billy Howard
Credit: Billy Howard
Q: Tell us about your favorite collaboration.
Howard: Our dear friend Subie Green had just become president of the Center for the Visually Impaired in Atlanta, and we wanted to do a project to help the organization’s mission. We also wanted to do something that would combine our talents in a true collaboration. With help from the Center, we did a project that would allow audiences to experience what a blind or visually impaired person experiences through their own eyes. All of this was recorded and accessible through audio for the visually challenged.
Shock: The project was called “Blind/Sight: Conversations with the Visually Inspired.” The year before Billy and I began dating, both retinas in my eyes detached and I had surgery to save my vision. I was legally blind for some time until my eyes healed. I was intimately familiar with visual impairment, and this made the project very dear to me.
Credit: Billy Howard
Credit: Billy Howard
Q: Is there a lot of constructive criticism back and forth, or is it always seamless — or some combination?
Shock: Billy and I offer each other criticism and feedback on everything we do. I really rely on him and consider carefully any ideas and wisdom he has to offer. I love to bounce ideas back and forth with him . . . We don’t fight over things. We respect each other’s ideas and perspectives and don’t feel threatened if we see things a little differently.
Howard: I like to think it is just a natural part of who we are now. We are always seeking to help each other excel, and, at the same time, offering each other a safe respite from the pressures of a creative career.
Credit: Courtesy of Billy Howard
Credit: Courtesy of Billy Howard
Q: Is there a dream project you both hope to tackle in the future?
Shock: I would love to collaborate with Billy on another project in the area of public health. It’s crucial to our society and needs support and positive storytelling now more than ever.
Howard: Laurie has been encouraging me to create a book from my early documentary work in the ‘80s, and I am hoping we can create more time and space for Laurie to do her fine art painting and creating for herself. I think each of us would say our dream projects are the ones that the other one wishes for.
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Candice Dyer’s work has appeared in magazines such as Atlanta, Garden and Gun, Men’s Journal and Country Living. She is the author of Street Singers, Soul Shakers, Rebels with a Cause: Music from Macon.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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ArtsATL (www.artsatl.org), is a nonprofit organization that plays a critical role in educating and informing audiences about metro Atlanta’s arts and culture. Founded in 2009, ArtsATL’s goal is to help build a sustainable arts community contributing to the economic and cultural health of the city.If you have any questions about this partnership or others, please contact Senior Manager of Partnerships Nicole Williams at nicole.williams@ajc.com.
