The Amazing Stephen Wiltshire
Child Prodigy - A Star Among Savant's
Nicknamed ' The Living Camera '
Stephen Wiltshire was born in London to West Indian parents on 24th April, 1974. His mother, Geneva Wiltshire had come from St Lucia and his father, Colvin, from Barbados. Colvin was killed in a motorcycle accident when Stephen was three years of age. His sister, Annette, is two years older than her brother. He lives with his mother in West London.
As a child, Stephen was mute and did not relate to other human beings. Aged three, he was diagnosed as autistic. He had no language, uncontrolled tantrums and lived entirely in his own world.
At the age of five, Stephen was sent to Queensmill School in London, a school for children with special needs, where it was noticed that the only pastime he enjoyed was drawing. It soon became apparent he communicated with the world through the language of drawing; first animals, then London buses, and finally buildings. These drawings show a masterful perspective, a whimsical line and reveal a natural innate artistry.
Aged eight, Stephen started drawing cityscape's after the effects of an earthquake (all imaginary) as a result of being shown photographs of earthquakes in a book at school. He also became obsessed with cars and illustrations of cars at this time (his knowledge of them is encyclopedic) and he drew most of the major London landmarks.
The teachers at Queensmill School encouraged him to speak by temporarily taking away his art supplies so that he would be forced to ask for them. Stephen responded by making sounds and eventually uttered his first word - "paper." He learned to speak fully at the age of nine.
In 1987, the BBC QED programme, 'The Foolish Wise Ones', featured Stephen's astounding talent. The programme was devoted to three autistic savants: musical, mathematical and artistic. Stephen was introduced by Sir Hugh Casson (past president of the Royal Academy), who described him as "the best child artist in Britain". Stephen's work has since been the subject of numerous television programmes around the world, and the writer and psychologist, Oliver Sacks, has devoted an essay to Stephen in his book An Anthropologist On Mars (Picador 1995). Stephen is the only artistic autistic savant in the world whose work has been recorded and published since his childhood. His third book - Floating Cities (Michael Joseph, 1991) - was number one on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Meanwhile, Stephen's artworks were being exhibited frequently in venues all over the world. In 2001 he appeared in another BBC documentary, Fragments of Genius, for which he was filmed flying over London aboard a helicopter and subsequently completing a detailed and perfectly scaled aerial illustration of a four-square-mile area within three hours; his drawing included 12 historic landmarks and 200 other structures.
In October and November 2003, thousands flocked to the Orleans House gallery in Twickenham near London, England, to see the first major retrospective of Stephen's work. The exhibition covered the 20-year period, from 1983 to 2003, and comprised 150 examples of Stephen's drawings, paintings and prints.
In May 2005 following a short helicopter ride over Tokyo he drew a stunningly detailed panoramic view of the city on a 10-meter-long canvas from memory. Since then he has drawn Rome, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Madrid, Dubai, Jerusalem and London on giant canvasses.
In January 2006 it was announced that Stephen was being named by Queen Elizabeth II as a Member of the Order of the British Empire, in recognition of his services to the art world. (No specific mention of his disability was made in the citation) Later that year he opened his permanent gallery at the Royal Opera Arcade, London.
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If you have been to Amazon.Com, or any other online store, the procedure for purchasing my work is equally as easy thanks to PayPal.
Some may remember posing for an "impromptu" photo opportunity during every family gathering. You stood there frozen, with cemented smiles as you wondered if Aunt Thelma would ever take the photograph. Cheese...... then Bam! You were blinded by the bright flash bulb. Auntie had the right idea. She wanted to memorialize every event. It didn't matter if the developed film never made it out of the card board envelopes. What was important is that she enjoyed taking photos.
Amateur photographers everywhere are still snapping pictures as a favorite pastime. Photography is a good means to chronicle someone's life. A picture tells a thousand words, so what an excellent way to document special moments, highlights and milestones.
Over time, our memory isn't as iron-clad as it once was. With photographs you can still recall the special moment even when the memory fades. Photography is good for your well being. Reflect on all the studies that talk about how beneficial laughter is to your health. Now consider your emotions when you see photos of a new baby, or a wedding, or any of the other adorable photos that are found in email in-boxes on a daily basis. They make you happy! Photos elicit positive emotions. Think about the people who were in south Texas during the winter of 2004. I'm sure they were happy to be down there when they had snow for the first time in over 100 years. There were people outside taking pictures at midnight; what an opportunity!
Have you ever seen deer on the side of the road? Not too many bucks will stop long enough to be photographed. If you're fortunate enough to see sitting deer, you better hope to have a camera with you; as they likely won't be sitting there waiting for you the next time you drive by.
While some people still prefer film cameras, digital cameras now come in any size or budget. For the novice photographer who merely enjoys taking photographs as a way to relax or capture those one of a kind moments, suitable digital cameras are available for under $100. Some people are still using 1.3 mega pixel digital cameras. By today's standard, that is considered a dinosaur. However it would still work if the photographer just wanted to take an occasional photo to list items for sale on eBay. Today many amateur photographers are using digital cameras with 4-6 mega pixels. As a rule of thumb, the higher the mega pixel, the higher the price tag. Notwithstanding, higher mega pixel cameras also come with more bells and whistles and have a higher resolution. Most all digital cameras also have a timer and ability to make very small movie clips. Many also have zoom lens features.
With digital photography it is fun to play around with new technology. Create a screen saver of your best photo with Image Box from CoolUtils. If you came back from Hawaii and have lots of great photos that you want not to just show to your friends but amaze them - make an astonishing slideshow. Imagine all pictures will be shown one by one with different effects, accompanied by music and your comments. With ImageBox every photo stops being a snapshot but becomes a living part of the presentation. Your friends will be amazed! Don't think about how difficult it is – you will create your first slideshow in 6 minutes. There are software programs that allow you to make digital images look better than real life by removing unwanted blemishes, moles, or wrinkles. Experiment with the software to add or remove people or objects from the photo. New technology provides the ability to alter a photograph so that it looks like an oil painting, pencil sketch, negative, sepia, black and white, charcoal drawing and a plethora of other options.
While it is possible to make a living as a photographer, the majority of camera users simply take photos because they enjoy it. It's true that time will not stand still. The taunting school aged children had it right when they responded to stares, "Take a picture why don't you – it'll last longer!" Now you do the same - stop reading and go take a picture... it'll last longer! REGISTER
Thank all of you so much for helping me to do something I love and enjoy. Please REGISTER and tell me what you think of the site.
While you visit and navigate through my site, next to the home tab, there is now a BUY menu item, that will link you to my gallery of pictures for sale — all High Resolution and top quality. So clicking on 'BUY' simply directs you to a new page to view and shop at your leisure; with the understanding that you are not committing yourself to a purchase. I've put some nice music on this new page as well, you can manage this in the upper right hand quadrant if you would rather have silence.
If you have been to Amazon.Com, or any other online store, the procedure for purchasing my work is equally as easy thanks to PayPal.
A NICE THOUGHT
Photos
Why do we take them?
By Mary Banas
Jan 22nd 2007
Some may remember posing for an "impromptu" photo opportunity during every family gathering. You stood there frozen, with cemented smiles as you wondered if Aunt Thelma would ever take the photograph. Cheese...... then Bam! You were blinded by the bright flash bulb. Auntie had the right idea. She wanted to memorialize every event. It didn't matter if the developed film never made it out of the card board envelopes. What was important is that she enjoyed taking photos.
Amateur photographers everywhere are still snapping pictures as a favorite pastime. Photography is a good means to chronicle someone's life. A picture tells a thousand words, so what an excellent way to document special moments, highlights and milestones.
Over time, our memory isn't as iron-clad as it once was. With photographs you can still recall the special moment even when the memory fades. Photography is good for your well being. Reflect on all the studies that talk about how beneficial laughter is to your health. Now consider your emotions when you see photos of a new baby, or a wedding, or any of the other adorable photos that are found in email in-boxes on a daily basis. They make you happy! Photos elicit positive emotions. Think about the people who were in south Texas during the winter of 2004. I'm sure they were happy to be down there when they had snow for the first time in over 100 years. There were people outside taking pictures at midnight; what an opportunity!
Have you ever seen deer on the side of the road? Not too many bucks will stop long enough to be photographed. If you're fortunate enough to see sitting deer, you better hope to have a camera with you; as they likely won't be sitting there waiting for you the next time you drive by.
While some people still prefer film cameras, digital cameras now come in any size or budget. For the novice photographer who merely enjoys taking photographs as a way to relax or capture those one of a kind moments, suitable digital cameras are available for under $100. Some people are still using 1.3 mega pixel digital cameras. By today's standard, that is considered a dinosaur. However it would still work if the photographer just wanted to take an occasional photo to list items for sale on eBay. Today many amateur photographers are using digital cameras with 4-6 mega pixels. As a rule of thumb, the higher the mega pixel, the higher the price tag. Notwithstanding, higher mega pixel cameras also come with more bells and whistles and have a higher resolution. Most all digital cameras also have a timer and ability to make very small movie clips. Many also have zoom lens features.
With digital photography it is fun to play around with new technology. Create a screen saver of your best photo with Image Box from CoolUtils. If you came back from Hawaii and have lots of great photos that you want not to just show to your friends but amaze them - make an astonishing slideshow. Imagine all pictures will be shown one by one with different effects, accompanied by music and your comments. With ImageBox every photo stops being a snapshot but becomes a living part of the presentation. Your friends will be amazed! Don't think about how difficult it is – you will create your first slideshow in 6 minutes. There are software programs that allow you to make digital images look better than real life by removing unwanted blemishes, moles, or wrinkles. Experiment with the software to add or remove people or objects from the photo. New technology provides the ability to alter a photograph so that it looks like an oil painting, pencil sketch, negative, sepia, black and white, charcoal drawing and a plethora of other options.
While it is possible to make a living as a photographer, the majority of camera users simply take photos because they enjoy it. It's true that time will not stand still. The taunting school aged children had it right when they responded to stares, "Take a picture why don't you – it'll last longer!" Now you do the same - stop reading and go take a picture... it'll last longer! REGISTER
Thank all of you so much for helping me to do something I love and enjoy. Please REGISTER and tell me what you think of the site.
Sincerely
Rick Miller