Chuck Winans had been a Blues fan for over 20 years prior to picking up a camera. In fact, until seven years ago, he didnt own a camera of any kind. In just six years, Winans has built a reputation as one of the hardest-working concert photographers in the business. His Portraits in Performance Photography, Inc. (www.pipphotography.com) boasts an archive with over 250,000 images of Rock, Blues and Jazz performances. Now, Winans travels the country shooting festivals and events like the W.C. Handy Blues Awards. Winans images are sold on his website with a percentage of each sale going to the artist pictured. Other photographs can be seen in magazines on CDs including Lil Ed Williams and Willie Kent, the Kinsey Report and Joe Louis Walker among others. In 2000, 50 pieces of Winans work were displayed at the Aurora Public Art Commission Gallery in conjunction with the Blues On The Fox Festival in Aurora, Illinois. That fall, he photographed the Traffic Performance Art Series for the renowned Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. In October, 15 of Winans color images went on display at B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted in Chicago, and in December, 15 more were displayed at Chord On Blues in St. Charles, Illinois.
