THE FILE 20,000 35mm; 3,000 medium-format c.t. and b/w photographs.

OVERVIEW Ethnic groups, Native Americans, social and cultural history. Farming, agriculture and rural life in the United States and Canada. Photography blends both documentary and lyrical elements. Versatile in landscape, still lifes, portraiture and architectural work.

NATIVE AMERICANS Photographed 27 tribes in the United States and Canada for Lifeways, a critically-acclaimed series of books. Photos include landscapes, portraits, traditional dwellings and reservation life today. Tribes include Apache, Arapaho, Blackfeet, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Chumash, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Delaware, Haida, Huron, Iroquois, Mandan, Menominee, Navajo, Nez Perce, Ojibwe, Powhatan, Pueblo, Seminole, Shawnee, Shoshone, Sioux, Tlingit, Wampanoag.

AGRICULTURE/RURAL LIFE For the following books - Corn Belt Harvest, County Fair, and Portrait of a Farm Family - coverage included all aspects of growing corn, county fairs, dairy farming. Also, farm families, barns, hay baling, soybean harvest, more.

AMISH Amish in Illinois and Indiana photographed for the books Amish Home and Visit to Amish Country. (The Amish do not permit portraits.) Subjects: buggies, horses, quilts, clothing, homes, barns, country roads, schools, businesses, farms, gardens.

THE AMERICAN WEST More than 2,000 slides from published books showing ghost towns, cowtowns and mining towns in the American West, notably Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona. Storefronts, main streets, portraits and scenics of gold mines, saloons, drugstores, mercantiles, general stores, livery stables, blacksmith shops, sheriff's office, gallows and coffins.

FRONTIER/PIONEER LIFE Frontier and pioneer life from Frontier Home, Where Lincoln Walked, and other books. Log cabins, hearths, fireplaces, chimneys, gardens, farm fields. Many household objects and tools, including cooking utensils, furniture, firearms, spinning wheels, homemade soap, candles. Also shops, artisans and craftsmen, including coopers, potters, weavers, shoemakers.

AMERICAN HISTORY African-American history (the Underground Railroad, plantation life and slave quarters); education (one-room schools): and a cultural history of quilts.

AMERICAN ETHNIC GROUPS The Shakers in Kentucky, the Mormons in Nauvoo, Illinois, and the Cajuns of Louisiana. Also immigrant life on the Lower East Side of New York City.

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS U.S.: Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Canada: Alberta, Ontario, Quebec.

RECENT COVERAGE Black-and-white portraits, still lifes and landscapes from small towns,which have been especially popular in advertising projects.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PLANS Bial is working on a ten-book project for Children's Press, an imprint of Scholastic, in the American Community series. Included: Cowtowns, Frontier Settlements, Early American Villages, Longhouses, Missions & Presidios, Ranchos and Haciendas, Mining Towns, French Voyageurs, Wigwams and Southern Plantations. He is completeing books on George Washingon and Nauvoo.

CREDITS Books: More than 80 published books for children and adults with Houghton Mifflin, Marshall Cavendish, Walker, the University of Illinois Press and other publishers. Numerous stock credits with National Geographic, PBS. Advertising: Leo Burnett, more.

RELATED CREDENTIALS/SKILLS

COMMENTS Bial does the research, writing and photography for his books. He feels it is important to provide good value in all of his work.

NONEDITORIAL SERVICES Speaker for conferences, schools and workshops - on writing and photography.