Photographed By Curtis Williams

His family background:

William Custis comes from a big family, with nine children, seven young women and two young men. His mother is the mother of the family, but still maintains some sources of income for the family. His father, a black sergeant in the United States Army, resigned after 30 years in power. His family has been in Europe for quite a long time. When Curtis was six years old, he set foot on the land of Europe for the first time and was happy with many happy childhood memories.

The struggle of early life:

He started school in Germany. Because his father was sent to Germany after World War II. His family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. They first moved to Compton, California. The road is brutal. He spent his first time in Los Angeles and faced a difficult struggle. Along this route, his family moved them to the downtown area where life was difficult. Faced with all these difficulties, they were transferred to the University of Southern California area. This is not cruel. Los Angeles has group training. Then his family moved to the Jewish network Fairfax Wales. Fouls and group training decreased significantly. He went to Los Angeles High School. At the age of 18, he knew nothing about his future. His family couldn’t help sending their children to school.

future:

One summer, his favorite colleague asked him if he should work in a production company that produces TV advertisements. He began to be a driver. He is very interested in the creation of this film. Sometimes he worked until they sent him home. It’s really reassuring to stay away from bad and illegal behaviors and the engine hood full of police. He doesn’t want to go home. During one and a half years of working for the creation, he was promoted from driver to tool space, followed by assistant producer.

At the age of 17, Curtis took off the cover and began to work as an apprentice in the Peterson Productions, the core top creative company in Hollywood. In this imaginative climate, he was very excited, working at night and helping for 16 hours free every day. He admired the enthusiasm of this innovative region and improved the leaders and supervisors who used the ability of the top leaders to shoot public advertisements.

The heads of the organization(Peterson Company) are all alumni of the School of Design of the Art Center. Richard Rucker, the chief executive officer of one-third of the organization, always asked William to engage in his creation. At that time, he was considered one of the most exciting directors in television advertising. One day, Richard Laker called William at his office. He told him that he had set up a film school within the organization, and he was elected as a member of the school. His first task was to make the five minute film he chose. This was the last period of the 1960s, At that time, many societies were unfair. He decided to make a film about how minorities were treated so strictly. William made a film. Dirty old people; he found black people in Los Angeles. He was a drunkard. At that time, he was not as poor as he is today. He took him to the organization studio. There was no doubt that he was filming him from head to foot, shooting very close, and he needed his audience to see and feel this personal mood. In the last shooting of this film, the camera gradually narrowed down, and the meeting gradually narrowed down. Let me see the man sitting at the top of the table. Six white men in suits revealed that he was the President of the United States. William knew nothing about what he was doing. He finished his five minute practice and handed it to the guide Richard Lacker, completely forgetting his creation.

On a sunny day, Richard Laker called him to his office. When he walked into Mr. Laker’s office, people congratulated and exposed the success of his short film. At the age of 22, he also won the Youth Academy Award for his five minute video work.

William could not understand this at that time, and he did not have the most vague concept of what happened or why. A few months after Mr. Rucker called him to his office, William said that he studied in Doyle, Dane, Bernbach Advertising Company, and Petersen Company, which were respected at a price of 125000 dollars, namely, the School of Art Center Design. At this stage of his life, how William developed is uncertain. He is just doing what others are trying to persuade him. He is very happy for this time in my life. His extraordinary talent and dedication helped Curtis graduate successfully.

Training level:

At the age of 22, he entered the School of Design of the Art Center. His group had 34 students, of whom only 2 completed their studies. He completed a four-year degree in two years and eight months. William believed that he could not complete his studies, At that time, he was lucky to graduate first in his class. He worked in the art center for many years and created a series of eye-catching works of art. Until today, his works are very famous.

In March 1976, when Curtis was 22 years old, VIVA magazine published an article about Curtis. “Curtis Williams, 27, is to some extent an artist of our time. His camera is the latest photography technology. His shooting object is a modern liberated woman. But Williams, through more than a year of film and darkroom technology experiments, has perfect special effects that can be compared with the paintings of the greatest masters in the 17th century.”

His experience:

His other half, Robin Nord, became a top model popular in New York, Paris and Milan. After finishing the art center, he was convinced that the guide My Rucker should continue to work for Peterson. He asked Mr. Laker for his next suggestion about the future. Mr. Laker said to William, “I would like you to go to New York as an apprentice.” William is the happiest man on the planet. He did not want to stay in Los Angeles because of racism and belittling of the dark forces of the police. So he was happy to go to New York. This was his goal before he went to Europe, and it was also the goal he had been eager to achieve since childhood. For William, he felt he had liberated a lot from European prejudice. Robin and his young girlfriend went to New York with 200 dollars. William never thought of using cash. He is just casual.

William told Robin that Robin should show himself before shooting. They went to the second good model office(Wilhelmina Models), and Robin was meeting Will Hermina Cooper. When William was in the hall, William Mina went to the hall and said to him. “I like the pictures you took for Robin”, hired him to take her model. She just built another studio. William will work there. The first William Mina model William filmed was Margo Hemingway. Robin and he left William Mina that day laughing. Later, both went to an advertising agency on Madison Street to buy his portfolio. He was asked to tell the boss. The shopkeeper told William that his customers had seen his work. In addition, William will make three advertisements for them. This is a clothing company. William gets 7000 dollars for every advertisement he makes. This is the beginning of his experience in New York.

Custis has contributed to many areas. He has worked as an advertising photographer, film producer and director. Even if he works in a diversified field, his first task is to design and shoot. He has been a photographer for more than 20 years and never thought of changing his job.

He is a talented expert and has been proved to be a valuable asset of the company so far. Therefore, his extraordinary talents in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles have always been concerned. Some advertising companies want him to join their organizations. For example, Young and Rubicam, Grey, Foote, Cone, Belding, etc. For 20 years, he has explored the beauty of Europe with the eyes of his camera. He has worked in Sweden, Germany, Italy, Britain, France and Spain. This is why he decided to go to Europe. There, people evaluated him not because of his skin color, but because of his works.

Many of his famous customers include Vogue, El magazine, Mary Claire magazine, Damenas V ä rld(Sweden), Lady Home Journal, Biva magazine, General Foods, United Negro College Fund, Clairol Hair Products, etc. The list continues.

At present, he is the publisher, executive editor, art director and photographer of the famous magazine Melrose Heights. The website alone has 10 million viewers.