Fil Hunter received a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in Psychology and Religion (Religion being a social science at a U.S. state-supported university). However, his chief interest was photography, which occupied most of his time during his four years at the school.

Although Hunter had grown up in a photography tradition (his grandfather invented multi-lens printing and his father made his own camera to photograph his experiences as a U.S. Marine in WWII), his most influential mentor was Ross Scroggs, Sr., Director of Photography at UNC-CH.

Although Scroggs was an acclaimed photographic technology teacher and also handled lighting brilliantly, lighting was the only area he had difficulty teaching. Since Scroggs had taught everything else, Hunter set out to fill that gap. The book Light – Science and Magic, written with Paul Fuqua and Stephen Biver, is the result.

Hunter has also been the lead writer of The McGraw-Hill Photography Course and Illusion: The Art and Science of Photographic Special Effects.

He is married to Robin Reid, a portrait specialist who has done the official portraits of several high-ranking U.S. officials. He and Robin are now working together on a new book with an expected publication date of mid-2011.

My parents gave me my first camera when I was ten years old. That’s when I started taking pictures, and I haven’t stopped. During the 1960’s I worked as a police officer in the Washington, D.C.. That’s when I started street shooting -- and I still haven’t stopped.

In the early 70s I opened a video production company. While producing shows I had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world, and happily, to shoot street portraits while I was there. Several years ago I retired from the wonderful world of production, but not from street shooting – not from that endlessly fascinating business of recording the folks I find along the streets I walk.

At this point in my life my fervent hope is that before they finally nail my coffin shut somebody tosses in a camera. Never can tell what pictures I may get wherever I’m destined to end up.

I’m a photographer, multimedia artist and author. For the last twenty year I’ve worked for such clients as Johnson and Johnson, IBM, Dupont and Newsweek. While I always enjoy connecting with my subjects when I’m making their portraits, I’m equally fired up while creating a still life, photo illustration or video.

In 2006 I co-authored the third edition of Light--Science and Magic and recently co-authored Faces--Photography and The Art of Portraiture. Both books were published by Focal Press. To see more of my work, please visit biverstudio.com.