About Bart Harris – Chicago Photographer
Bart Harris produces high resolution Digital Photography for advertising and print media… instantly.
Biography
I’m a native Chicagoan and a born photographer, and have never wanted to be anything else. Funny thing is I’ve been a pro since the age of 13 when I was commissioned by various friends’ parents to shoot portraits of their families. I had my first legitimate show at 17 and sold my first photographs to an ad agency at 18: race car photos for use in Pure Oil national ads shot through Leo Burnett. I started Bart Harris Photography, Inc. at 23 and shot retail fashion for Both Marshall Field & Co. and Carson Pirie Scott & Co. as well as several small ad agencies. My early ad agency photography revolved around humor and an opportunity to shoot Virginia Slims old-time photos early in my career really helped propel me into the limelight.
Click here to read more about Bart.
Technology
In late 1994 I shot three photos with a Kodak DCS460 camera in the professional lighting department of a large professional camera store. This was my first exposure (pun intended) to digital photography. The following day I looked at the images on my monitor and was blown away by the quality of what I saw. Contrary to what was being written and said about the state of digital photography at the time, the quality appeared to be quite superior to film. In the month that followed, Eastman Kodak gave me the opportunity to further test the camera’s capabilities. These tests confirmed my first impression and gave me the confidence to nag one of my favorite clients into letting me shoot his next BTNA (Big Time National Ad) digitally. The ad consisted of ten portraits of various people who were photographed in a makeshift studio, set up in a Washington D.C. hotel room. This shoot went so well that I was compelled to convince all my ad agency clients to let me shoot digitally. Please understand, to the best of my knowledge I was the only Chicago-based agency photographer in 1994, and a people photographer at that, to shoot digitally.
Click here to read more about the technology behind Bart’s images
Clients
Bart has worked with hundreds of clients. Click here to view a partial list of satisfied customers.
Testimonial
See what one of Bart’s clients had to say about a recent project.
