Larry Olson

Image © Larry Olson

Artist Statement

In 1963, the Sierra Club published The Place No One Knew, a book of Eliot Porter's photographs of Glen Canyon on the Colorado River, which indicted our society for foolishly damming and flooding one of the most beautiful places on earth. Porter's images were my first revelation in color landscape photography; looking at them, I wanted my camera, like his, to make a plea for wild areas.

When Porter called his images "intimate landscapes," I thought he was referring to their emphasis on foreground (sometimes to the exclusion of any background at all). Over time, I have come to see additional meanings for the phrase, including deep knowledge and love. An artist who knows and loves his or her subject can perhaps come closer to doing it justice

Ansel Adams likened the negative to a musical score and the print to a performance. In other words, photographs are made, not taken. Because the final performance or interpretation of the image is highly personal, I do all my own work. Currently, I process my photographs using Adobe Lightroom; the computer is now my darkroom where I use the traditional techniques of dodging and burning, color balance, contrast and density to create the image.

These archival pigment photographs are prepared by me on heavyweight, 100% cotton paper and mounted and matted with 100% museum rag board. Each photograph is signed and numbered.

Larry Olson | Portland, OR