Long-time knife photographer Chuck Ward is the new Official BLADE Show Photographer, the BLADE Show and BLADE® Magazine are happy to report.
The BLADE Show is the world’s largest and most important knife show and will be held in its 36th annual rendition June 2-4 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.
Chuck replaces Eric Eggly and PointSeven, who had been the Official BLADE Show Photographer for about 20 years. Eggly retired from photography late last year to enter another industry.
The new Official BLADE Show Photographer counts being president of the Arkansas Knifemakers Association and membership in The Knifemakers’ Guild among his credentials. He is also the official photographer for the Oklahoma Custom Knife Show and the Arkansas Knifemakers Association Show—officially known as The Art of Steel Custom Knife Show slated for Feb. 18-19 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. He has been photographing knives for over a decade and has been published in many magazines, including BLADE.
As the Official BLADE Show Photographer it will be Chuck’s job to photograph all of the annual BLADE Magazine Knife-Of-The-Year® winners, all of the winners in the annual BLADE Show custom knife competition, and all of the American Bladesmith Society’s annual best knives named at the show. All told those images will total 32, give or take a few. The resulting images will be the exclusive property of BLADE and will be used in the magazine’s stories recapping the annual BLADE Show.
The Official BLADE Show Photographer will be ably assisted by his staff. His grandson, Brennan Ward, will help Chuck with the photography, editing and printing of images. Brennan’s wife, Mrs. Anna-Catherine Ward, will handle all clerical duties and Chuck’s grandson, Grayson Ward, will assist in returning knives after they have been photographed. Brennan and Anna-Catherine are graduates of Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Brennan is director of marketing at Elite Core Audio, and Grayson is custom shop director at ECA.
