Photography Blog

This year, two of my photos were selected as part of the Art Wolfe Environmental Photography Invitational (EPI) competition. Darkeness Bleeds Daylight and Winter Shore were both selected in the Landscape Category by the panel of judges with Winter Shore earning the “Highly Commended” honor. Over 1400 images were narrowed down to just 100 images by 69 photographers. Large prints of all the winning images are on exhibit in the Art Wolfe Gallery in Seattle from May 18 to June 30. To view this year’s winning EPI photos you can go to www.epinvitational.com.

The Environmental Photography Invitational is an event for the advancement of photography as a unique medium capable of bringing awareness and preservation to our environment through art. The Environmental Photography Invitational is a premier North American photography event. The selected prints will celebrate the world’s diversity along with the creativity and originality of photographers. EPI is an annual community event involving foundations, sponsors, politicians, and photographers to promote environmental awareness.

Recently, two of my images were honored in juried photo competitions. The photos “Dark Places” and “Confetti” were both printed in the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) publication called Expressions. Confetti was one of 100 showcase winning images chosen from over 3,000 photos by 418 photographers. It is also featured in the Expressions showcase on the NANPA website.

“Dark Places” was also just selected for the “Top 40″ juried competition to be exhibited at the Los Angles Center For Digital Art (LACDA). The LACDA Gallery is locted on “gallery row” in down town LA and will run the show March 8-31.

Gallen Rowell was one of the most prolific and well known outdoor and nature photographers in the second half of the 20th century. At a time when most outdoor photographers were struggling under the mass of large format photography equipment, Galen combined the emerging lightweight SLR technology with his legendary athletic ability to pioneer a whole new genre of adventure and nature photography. He would often combine his photography with first ascents of remote peaks or expeditions to unexplored regions. Any climbing guidebook for the western United States and Alaska is full of routes he established and climbing literature is full of Galen stories. I actually knew about Galen from his climbing exploits before I was familiar with him as a photographer. His energy, sense of wonder and adventure and commitment to his “on the move” style of photography enabled him to create some of our most iconic images of the Earth’s wild places.

Galen, more than any other photographer, is responsible for my interest in photography and the style and approach I use. But that is nothing unusual in the outdoor photography world. Galen inspired an entire generation of adventure seekers and outdoor photography enthusiasts. Galen was so prolific and his images so enduring that I often have difficulty distinguishing between my own photographic voice and his influence on the way I see a scene, something I find to be a curse and a gift at the same time.

Tragically Galen and his wife, Barbara Cushman Rowell, died in a plane crash near their home in Bishop, California in 2002 while they were both very much in the prime of their creative careers. If you are not already familiar with Galen’s photography you should visit the Web site of his photography business, which he called Mountain Light, at www.mountainlight.com.

Galen and his photography were tightly linked with the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club Website’s new radio show and podcast called Sierra Club Radio, has a recent feature interview with Nicole Rowell-Ryan, Galen Rowell’s daughter. On the show, Ms. Rowell-Ryan talks about her memories of her father as an artist and an adventurer.

You can listen to the interview with Nicole Rowell-Ryan at http://www.sierraclubradio.org/. The show aired on February 3, 2007. The podcast is also available in the iTunes music store- just search for “Sierra Club Radio.”

Here is what the Sierra Club has to say about their new broadcasts:

“The Sierra Club recently launched a weekly radio show which is designed to help meet the mounting demand for “green” news — information Americans can use as consumers, as citizens, as neighbors and parents to make responsible choices and to connect to the growing environmental community. We have posted the podcast on our website, http://www.sierraclub.org, and also on the iTunes music store (just search “Sierra Club”). The show is also broadcast in the San Francisco Bay area on 960am The Quake at 3:30 pm on Saturdays, and is soon to be syndicated on public radio around the country.
             
The show spotlights in-depth conversations with a wide range of environmental experts and activists, artists, filmmakers, and authors inspired by nature. It also features Sierra Club content – including lifestyle tips from Sierra magazine’s Green Life editor Jennifer Hattam and Mr. Green, Bob Schildgen; in-depth interviews with Sierra Club Books authors and contributors to Sierra magazine; and political observations and commentary by Executive Director Carl Pope. The program highlights stories from the Sierra Club’s conservation work and grassroots fieldwork, and hopefully it will encourage people to think more carefully every day about how we can each do our part to live green and protect the environment.”