July '08 Photo of the Day - # - Welcome to Bill Pador Photography! Professional Photographer Serving NJ-NY-PA Weddings - Sweet 16 Parties

Welcome to July's POD gallery. The POD galleries give me an oppertunity to do what I do best and that's shoot Creative Photographs and show them off to the public, clients and a select group of highly trained professional photographers who belong to the Daily Photo Community at SmugMug for Critique purposes which gives me a good idea of how well I have created the message the image was supposed to relay to your eyes.

Hopefully I'll display some colorful ideas I create through out the month once again and also since this is a very Patriotic time of the year. But then again you never know what you'll see here so check back every day for my creations. As always your comments & critiques are welcome and appreciated. ~Bill~

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Bill Pador > I thought it was a good day for a flower image because I've been having a wonderful day and these give off the happy glow that I'm having.

First thing this morning I was notified by Webshots that my image 'STEAMING TEA POT' that I had shot last month for a POD here (thanks kr8ive) was being featured as WebShots 'PHOTO OF THE DAY' in their Entertainment section which can be SEEN HERE *(it's off to the side as of 7/31) followed by an email box full of congratulations from viewers. From there my day has just been a very enjoyable one.
I like these flowers so much I had to create a montage from it so please check it out in my EXTRAS GALLERY HERE *(I may be bias but personally I think it came out GREAT LOL)

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my new smoke art venture, I have put so much work into developing the technique & work flow for it I hope it pays off in the end. I'm really excited about it and I know with more hard work & determination I'll be able to make a go of it.

Have a great day everyone ;)
~Bill~

Bill Pador > "Blaze & Smile"
Custom Smoke Art by Bill Pador
BEST VIEWED LARGE"
I would like to present an art form that I have created & been working to perfect over the last 6+ months, SMOKE ART. I will be opening a Special Gallery soon as part of my business containing ONE OF A KIND fine art pieces created strictly from Smoke images captured and then used to convey scenes to stir the mind into seeing ghostly objects enabling the owner to have one of a kind conversational pieces to display in their homes. Each smoke image will have a specific theme and are painstakingly chosen for it's content & form to convey what I as the artist am trying to convey with the completed piece. Then the smoke is worked on with certain techniques I've developed to make it come alive. At present they will only be made available on CANVAS and each piece will come with a certificate of authenticity from me as the artist and the smoke captures used to create them will be destroyed upon completion of each piece. I am presently in talks with several companies to also produce them using glow in the dark paints and several other mediums I can't talk about right now.

I'm very excited about this project and have put 100's of hours into perfecting the work flow and artistic vision of this art form. I have searched my entire life for something to make me stand out and I believe I have found the medium to do that with. Hopefully I will be able to make a name for myself in the art word through my pieces and look forward to your comments and thoughts on this project.

Unfortunately because of the work involved in this I will not be sharing the process it takes to create one of these (obviously LOL) but I will say that each piece takes approximately 6+ hours to complete and I do NOT ADD anything to the original photo image captured. I am finally comfortable with all the steps in the work flow to produce stunning art deco abstracts to present to the art community and hopefully it will be accepted with open arms by everyone.

This was one of my final test pieces and it's entitled "BLAZE & SMILE". It was designed after seeing the human skeleton form on the right smiling with his arm appearing to hold a cigarette (or other smoking material LOL) which is making him/her happy. There are many other things going on in this piece but I wanted to point out one designed into it and let YOU the viewer come to any conclusions you may see in here, the concept behind my (and any) art form is to provoke thoughts, feelings & emotion so I would like you to leave your comments on what thoughts are provoked when you study this creation PLEASE.

I will announce the grand opening of the gallery once it's ready HERE to the Daily Community FIRST before I do any real world advertising to get your thoughts because you all have become very good friends of mine and I really honor & treasure your thoughts on my work. Thank You ALL for your support and I look forward to presently my newly created art form to the public very soon.

Best Regards,
~Bill~

Bill Pador > "Some Things Never Die"
This abstract started out as a simple photo idea to shoot my old Cassette Tape collection that hangs on my garage wall for the last 15+ years unused and turned into a 4 hour artistic project that I had a ton of fun with.

Built into this photo is my attempt at building angles, depth and shadows to show how sad I was that someone took away my cassette tape deck and replaced it with CD's and to prove to these young kids that we DID actually have music before CD's were invented LOL (maybe I should have done my 8 Track player)

By using different masks, selective color, a BUNCH of layers (over 140 of them) and hand painting & shadowing I wanted to KILL my tape collection in front of you all. Everything in this image was created today including the 2 actual photos of the Tape Rack and the Tape Player I still have and then the frames, smoke effect and bullet holes were all created by hand using Photoshop skills and placed 1 by 1 into the image. During this project I learned how to make a really cool way to make bullet holes and then drop them into a image using different sizes and and angles for a realistic looking effect which I plan on making a tutorial on and sharing it with everyone because it worked so well.

So I call this original piece "Some Things Never Die", look at it large to see the detail I put in it if you wish and let me know if it provokes any thoughts, if it does then I have have done my job as an artist. Seems that my brain was idol yesterday and full of thoughts today. I just couldn't stop working on this piece because I was having so much fun with it.

I would write more technical data on this but I would be here all day, there was a LOT involved. So just enjoy it and I hope it brings back some memories for us older folks ;)

~Bill~

Bill Pador > So I was bored today and started fooling around with a CD and my crystal light stand. I laid the CD on the light stand and let it stand still while waving a small LED flash light at the CD to get some funky light spectrum's going. With the D300 on a tripod I snapped off a few frames and started to get artsy fartsy in CS3.

I took multiple images (3) and then started layering, erasing and messing with the opacity and this is what I came up with. I wasn't feeling anything today so my brain is kinda in neutral plus I had to be somewhere and time was short so I rushed it which I don't like to do ever but I made an exception this time. Other then the layering, opacity & erasing there really isn't much to this image except the frame. I think it came out pretty DIFFERENT looking and when that happens it always puts a smile on my face. Different means ARTISTIC to me and as we all know art is art and different in every one's opinion and truly is in the "Eye of the beholder".

I'll try to come up with something better for tomorrow but for now this will have to do LOL.

Have a great weekend everyone !!

~Bill~

Bill Pador > "Floating Water"
First I wanna Thank You all for your kind comments on my purple heart image. The project itself was difficult to begin with but I still have issues with sharing some of my past memories (or nightmares) sometimes but felt I was ready to share that day with you all. Your comforting words let me know I made the right decision to go ahead with the shoot so Thank You ;)

This little shot was kind of a Happy Accident really. We had a terrible storm last night with rocking thunder and lightning and I wanted to document the huge amount of rain fall some how. It was twilight and the light coming into the camera was harsh shooting straight into the sky off my porch but dark clouds were messing up my exposure. So I tested the D300's high ISO and cranked it up to 3200 and SS of 1/2000 to freeze the rain drops in place. This is 2 shots stitched together side by side of the water coming off my roof & drain pipe which was falling horizontally. I was holding a LED flashlight & shining it into the water to get better contrast (what a PITA tring to shoot with one hand and hold light in the other LOL). In post I added a bi-colored filter after converting it to B&W to bring the contrast of the water out better and added a small frame to give it some life. I was amazed at the D300 ability to take such a clear shot at ISO 3200, this is the first time I pushed it that high out doors and was very satisfied with the results. Oh and I also took some shots at ISO 6400 and they were just as clear, but they just didn't make it to the POD. Hope you all like it, have a wonderful day everyone!

PS: I shot a cool image of a fly with RED EYES during this shoot. If your interested it can be seen in my EXTRAS GALLERY HERE

~Bill~

Bill Pador > "My Purple Heart & Wounded in Combat Awards"
-click image to see larger-
Today's POD is something special I wanted to share with all my friends here at the dailies. On 7/22/97 (11 years ago) while on duty myself and 2 other police officers almost paid the ultimate price with our lives when 2 felons lead us on a 3 town high speed chase, running us off the road several times and then attempting to kill us with the vehicle when we attempted to apprehend them. One of my friends was dragged down the street clinging to the car breaking his knee cap, my partner was hit & dragged under the car suffering several injuries and I was hit & thrown through the air causing a severe shoulder injury requiring surgery to remove part of my collar bone,shoulder blade and AC joint. It was the first time I was forced to use deadly force in the line of duty as a civilian cop when I was forced to open fire on the driver. Even after being run down I was still able to chase the driver on foot for 2 blocks and take him into custody before collapsing from my injuries & being rushed to the hospital in a police car.

I was awarded the above citations for this incident so let me describe what you see. The handcuffs are the pair I used on the suspect, the Green & Yellow bar is the 'WOUNDED IN COMBAT' Award, The Black bar with Stars is the State PBA Class "A" Meritorious Service award (the highest they give out, for life threatening situations only) 'for saving the life of my partner' and the Blue Bar & Purple Medal are the National Purple Heart award given to me by the United States American Police Hall of Fame award located in Florida which I am now a life time member & honoree. This is one of the incidents that caused me to retire but not the one that caused my spinal injury that occured in 2001.

Needless to say I'm very proud of these awards and of my 30+ citations I was blessed with over 13 years as a civilian police officer these hold a special place in my heart. I was going to try and incorporate the Unit Citation Plaque I received for this as well but I couldn't figure out how to shot it and look good.

This image was SUPPOSED to be done yesterday but it wound up being one of the toughest still life images I have taken to date for several reasons. No matter how I shot it, the shiny finishes on the medals and handcuffs posed a special problem and it took me over a day to figure out how to do it so that everything was readable with good contrast and colors. I finally figured it out (and learned a LOT in the process). I used a single SB-600 flash off camera with a Lumiquest Mini-Soft Box attached and placed it BEHIND the box and bounced it off 2 walls @ 90' to fill in the medals to prevent any reflections. I also used the on camera flash set at -1.0 EV and Rear Curtain for fill so the colors were vivid and to bring out the detail in the medals. I used a really cool cigar box that 'SOPRANOS' cigars came in for the silk texture base placing the awards on top of it. Shot with Nikkor 18-200 @ f/14 for 1/160 at ISO 800 hand held.

Thanks for looking & sharing in my anniversary of one of the most devistating days of my life. I'm just happy to still be here to be able to share this with you and to maybe give you an idea of what police officers all over this country go through every day of their lives. So next time you get pulled over for that speeding ticket instead of cursing them, try and say Thank You to them for what they do to protect you on a daily basis!

PS: How do you all like my NEW Site Banner up top ?
* Also Thanks to all who placed votes for my contest entries, I appreciate your time ;)

Officer Bill Pador (Retired/Disabled)

Bill Pador > "BLACK MONDAY"
looks best larger
Today was very hot & humid here and it was bound to happen with that combination - A Wild Storm! I heard the clap of thunder and knew it was on, so I grabbed my camera & tripod and hit the front porch before the rain started. The sky was very menacing but it was almost pitch black outside. So I knew a long exposure was in order, f/14 for 15 sec. ISO 800 and a WB of Cloudy (go figure LOL) and to my surprise I was able to capture the sky just as it looked to me. My neighbors house had a small porch light on in front causing the front to light up nicely with a erie glow and the way it stood out against the black clouds was simply awesome to me. You can see how sensitive the D300 sensor is by noticing the small amount of light in the right tree top as well from what is probably a 60 watt light bulb at the neighbors house, incredible. You can tell how fast the clouds were moving in by the movement shown from a 15 second exposure. The rain shortly after this was shot was, well A LOT!

Have a good day folks,
~Bill~
"I NEED YOUR VOTES FOR STATE RUN CONTEST"
PS: If you would like to help me please click here GREAT DESTINATIONS NJ and register (it's Free) and only takes a few seconds, then perform a SEARCH using my name for People or Photos to search for my photos (you can use last or both names to perform the search). My photos will appear and then just pick a few of your favorites and click only the "I DIG IT" to cast your votes. After the first vote is placed a RANDOM photo will appear from another photographer, so either hit your back button to return to my images to cast another vote or repeat the search function.

There is no need to vote for all 15 of my images, just pick 2 or 3 that you like that's all I ask. It's a great place to showcase my art to the entire state of NJ and great free publicity & advertising for my studio and with over $20,000 in prizes that will be awarded possibly some extra cash in my pocket and will be published in a State Sponsored Photo Book too !

Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with this contest.
~BILL~

Bill Pador > "Ballet in the Shadows"
Like most other photographers I'm always chasing after the LIGHT that will create a creative image. I found it today staring me right in the face. While walking up the stairs I saw this image which was begging me to shot it.

My daughter had left her ballet slippers laying on the floor and I happened to notice the sun gleaming through the front window onto the wooden floor casting this great shadow of the window panes & separators. So I moved the slippers over a few inches into the light and took the shot.
I tried a few different things in PP and decided to do a Selective Color finish. I was torn between leaving it alone because of the wonderful color & grain of the natural wood floor but turning it into a B&W and highlighting the shoes really made it different & unique.

Post was nothing more then adding a customized B&W layer using CS3's new B&W layer mode & adjusting the reds & yellows a bit. Then painting over the shoes with a black brush bringging the color back on them and then a small amount of unsharp mask & an OnOne Frame to complete it.

I have another shot that had a large amount of light & shadows contrasting the image I liked also so I had to post it in my DAILY EXRAS gallery which can be SEEN HERE

BTW: Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my West Point image, it sure brought a LOT of great memories back driving around my old stomping grounds after 20 years. I couldn't believe the amount of change West point has seen over those years, but I guess everything keeps moving with time, even such a historical place like that.

"I NEED YOUR VOTES FOR STATE RUN CONTEST"
PS: If you would like to help me please click here GREAT DESTINATIONS NJ and register (it's Free) and only takes a few seconds, then perform a SEARCH using my name for People or Photos to search for my photos (you can use last or both names to perform the search). My photos will appear and then just pick a few of your favorites and click only the "I DIG IT" to cast your votes. After the first vote is placed a RANDOM photo will appear from another photographer, so either hit your back button to return to my images to cast another vote or repeat the search function.

There is no need to vote for all 15 of my images, just pick 2 or 3 that you like that's all I ask. It's a great place to showcase my art to the entire state of NJ and great free publicity & advertising for my studio and with over $20,000 in prizes that will be awarded possibly some extra cash in my pocket and will be published in a State Sponsored Photo Book too !

Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with this contest.
~BILL~

Bill Pador > "West Point Mascot"
Today's Daily was shot because today was a special anniversary for me, it was 20 years ago that I finished my obligation in the US Army. For my final duty station from 1985-88 I was assigned to the United States Military Academy at WEST POINT as a Military Police Officer on special assignment working under LT. General Dave Palmer. Well I went back to visit today and to shoot some images but upon arrival I found out that the base is now a CLOSED facility and not open to the public at this time (due to war). I was able to access the base with my retired police credentials but I was unsure if I would be breaking any laws if I shot photos so I kept my camera in the car and only shot a few here and there of non vital security places.

This is a statue of the West Point Mascot . The special thing about this image is that I just spent 3+ hours really editing it BY HAND trying to keep my skills sharp since I haven't had to do work like this in a while. It has been painstakingly hand colored, toned and shadowed (My Walcom tablet is on fire and I wore the tip off of it LOL). Anyway I thought it would be cool to bring every detail of the statue out by bringing out all the details with a TON of Dodging/burning along with taking out all the garbage behind it (power lines, houses, street etc.) along with having to deal with the massive HAZE that was in the air there today, it was awful and most of my shots you couldn't even see the subjects if they were more then 50' away.

*I also uploaded the ORIGINAL in this gallery so you could compare the difference !If you look at the original first then click on this one you can see the details in the horse & rider change before your eyes and see the huge difference* Try to look at it as large as you can so you can pick up all the details, I even detailed the tail, every pant crease, horse & riders face, every muscle on his body etc. The trees were also created by hand and shaped so that it would bring out the statues features as well.

Well I can't type anymore my fingers are killing me, I'll add more to this tomorrow. Oh BTW to see the huge amount of work I put into this one, Please let me know what you think ;)

Best Regards,
Bill

"I NEED YOUR VOTES FOR STATE RUN CONTEST"
PS: If you would like to help me please click here GREAT DESTINATIONS NJ and register (it's Free) and only takes a few seconds, then perform a SEARCH using my name for People or Photos to search for my photos (you can use last or both names to perform the search). My photos will appear and then just pick a few of your favorites and click only the "I DIG IT" to cast your votes. After the first vote is placed a RANDOM photo will appear from another photographer, so either hit your back button to return to my images to cast another vote or repeat the search function.

There is no need to vote for all 15 of my images, just pick 2 or 3 that you like that's all I ask. It's a great place to showcase my art to the entire state of NJ and great free publicity & advertising for my studio and with over $20,000 in prizes that will be awarded possibly some extra cash in my pocket and will be published in a State Sponsored Photo Book too !

Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with this contest.
~BILL~

Bill Pador > Original UnEdited version of the "West Point Mascot"
*Please see the Edited version (Next Photo in this gallery) for full story and editing info and leave your comments on that one please because I might be deleting this one in a few weeks*

Thanks Bill

"I NEED YOUR VOTES FOR STATE RUN CONTEST"
PS: If you would like to help me please click here GREAT DESTINATIONS NJ and register (it's Free) and only takes a few seconds, then perform a SEARCH using my name for People or Photos to search for my photos (you can use last or both names to perform the search). My photos will appear and then just pick a few of your favorites and click only the "I DIG IT" to cast your votes. After the first vote is placed a RANDOM photo will appear from another photographer, so either hit your back button to return to my images to cast another vote or repeat the search function.

There is no need to vote for all 15 of my images, just pick 2 or 3 that you like that's all I ask. It's a great place to showcase my art to the entire state of NJ and great free publicity & advertising for my studio and with over $20,000 in prizes that will be awarded possibly some extra cash in my pocket and will be published in a State Sponsored Photo Book too !

Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with this contest.
~BILL~

Bill Pador > "Dreams Do Come True"
The moon early this morning was just so awesome I had to share it, so here it is. I went outside to grab a pack of smokes out of my car about 3am and couldn't believe how bright and clear the moon was. I just sat on the driveway and stared at it for 10 min. or so clearing my head and day dreaming (well I guess it's night dreaming technically LOL). There was a spot on it that seemed like it was exploding, *if you look at around 11 o'clock in the dark shaded area you see a brightly lit SPOT that's really white) it looked as if it was JUMPING off the moon so I wonder if there was some kind of activity on the surface that I was witnessing I don't know but it sure was cool. After that I grabbed my gear and set up for the shoot taken in (NEF) RAW then converted to .jpg after a crop, no other post was needed.

It was a very relaxing 20 min. sitting on my driveway like a little kid just thinking of good thoughts and watching the amazing sky. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a relaxing 20 min. a day, it certainly was refreshing!

Tech Details:

Lens- Nikkor 70-300 @ 300mm
SS- 1/125
AP- f/8
ISO- 200
WB- Auto
Meter- Center Weighted @ 8mm setting
Manual Focus
Tripod Mounted using Mirror Up Delay, Self Timer set to 5 sec.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone !
~Bill~

Bill Pador > For today's daily I'd like to introduce you to my 11 year old daughter Alexa, I tried to get my 15 yo girl to join us but she is not one for having her photo taken especially if it's going on the internet LOL so I stuck with one of my favorite & most cooperative models.

Alexa has the most wonderful eye color that changes with her surroundings, most days their an awesome shade of blue, sometimes green and today a greenish/gray hue. This was shot in natural light coming from a single small window from the right and then in post I gave her a small dose of glamour treatment (skin softening & skin glow), eye & teeth whitening and removed several small facial blemishes (I guess from the fried food she had yesterday LOL). Also removed a slight amount of eye brow hair above her nose and that's about it.

Alexa is also following in her dads foot steps and is quite the young photographer already. Her compositions are spot on and she has quite an eye for a great shot. I'm glad I have one kid that has a passion for photography, I made the mistake of getting my 15 year old a camera for Christmas last year and she promptly broke it soon afterwards because of lack of care that age tends to have. This year will be Alexa's turn, so I'm thinking about getting her a D60 or D80 if I can afford it, then we can share lenses and lower the overall cost of getting her into a nice gear kit.

Thanks for looking and sharing one of the best gifts I've ever received, My Daughter !
~Bill~

"I NEED YOUR VOTES FOR STATE RUN CONTEST"
PS: If you would like to help me please click here GREAT DESTINATIONS NJ and register (it's Free) and only takes a few seconds, then perform a SEARCH using my name for People or Photos to search for my photos (you can use last or both names to perform the search). My photos will appear and then just pick a few of your favorites and click only the "I DIG IT" to cast your votes. After the first vote is placed a RANDOM photo will appear from another photographer, so either hit your back button to return to my images to cast another vote or repeat the search function.

There is no need to vote for all 15 of my images, just pick 2 or 3 that you like that's all I ask. It's a great place to showcase my art to the entire state of NJ and great free publicity & advertising for my studio and with over $20,000 in prizes that will be awarded possibly some extra cash in my pocket and will be published in a State Sponsored Photo Book too !

Thanks for all your support, I really appreciate your taking the time to help me with this contest.
~BILL~

Bill Pador > "Fire Without Smoke"
Best seen Larger
I want to Thank You All for your wonderful comments on my SP yesterday. I never knew so many would think having a 5 O'Clock shadow fit me so well LOL At least I know if I don't feel like shaving one day I won't look too out of place.

Today's daily comes from my shoot 2 days ago at High Point State Park NJ because I'm feeling a little under the weather again with my back injury and don't feel much like doing any shooting today. So I laid here on the couch and flipped through my shots from Sunday and came upon this one and thought I could do something interesting in post with it.

I had observed the sun coming through these trees and liked the back lit shadow & silhouette it cast so I shot it. I had my lens hood on and at 20mm (almost wide open) it caught the edges of the hood on the frame giving it a natural vignette, so I extended it in CS3 along with giving it my own custom flair of an infrared treatment I developed a while back & used a blaze orange color to set it off. I really liked the results & hope you do as well. That's all I had to do to complete this one and now I can relax knowing my daily is finished for the day.

Hope you enjoy this one, it shows exactly how I feel today, a little gloomy with a hint of sunshine. Maybe a nice hot cup of coffee will cheer me up and it's almost time to take my pain meds so there is hope LOL. You guys are the best group of talented photographers I've met to date and I appreciate all your support & kind words each and every day, they give me something to look forward to along with seeing all your fantastic work to inspire me further. I'm sure each of us has not only learned from each other but it's also a pleasure having a place to showcase our work amoung friends & fellow artists ~Best Regards, Bill~

UPDATE: I just added 16 images to my Dalies Overflow gallery PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VIEW Includes an Oil Painting I created today

Bill Pador > "From Dusk Till Dawn"
OK I broke down and finally felt the courage to do a semi proper SP since my buddy John (You know who you are LOL) pounded us with a few SP's in recent days. This is my interpretation of a Self Portrait 'MUG SHOT' layout depicting me in a duel format of Dusk Till Dawn (a favorite movie of mine as well) with the left one showing me after a hard day behind the shutter and the right showing what a fresh razor & some hair gel can do for this photographer LOL.

PP consists of some slight portrait softening (glamour treatment - I can use all the help I can get) and then running it through Alien Skins B&W Film plug-in using 'Ilford SFX 200' B&W film (grain off) and a split frame. So there it is, I've done my SP part for the year so don't ask for another one or I'll be forced to run away to Alaska for a few short months to bury my head in the snow until it thaws in the spring time. Thanks for forcing this upon me John, no further inspiration for SP's is needed from you now buddy !!! LOL Have a great day folks

PS: I took SUNITA's suggestion & entered this image into the DGrin SP Contest, Ugg what was I thinking LOL??? Wish me luck ;) . . .Contest has now passed. . . .

I thought it was a good day for a flower image because I've been having a wonderful day and these give off the happy glow that I'm having.

First thing this morning I was notified by Webshots that my image 'STEAMING TEA POT' that I had shot last month for a POD here (thanks kr8ive) was being featured as WebShots 'PHOTO OF THE DAY' in their Entertainment section which can be SEEN HERE *(it's off to the side as of 7/31) followed by an email box full of congratulations from viewers. From there my day has just been a very enjoyable one.
I like these flowers so much I had to create a montage from it so please check it out in my EXTRAS GALLERY HERE *(I may be bias but personally I think it came out GREAT LOL)

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my new smoke art venture, I have put so much work into developing the technique & work flow for it I hope it pays off in the end. I'm really excited about it and I know with more hard work & determination I'll be able to make a go of it.

Have a great day everyone ;)
~Bill~