Eliot Porter was a self-taught landscape photographer whose beautifully detailed pictures of birds and nature bring together the natural sciences and fine arts. He worked exclusively in black-and-white photography until 1939, a year after Alfred Stieglitz organized a solo exhibition of Porter’s work in his gallery. By the mid-‘50s, Porter was working mostly in color, using dye transfer printing. Porter wanted his highly expressive and brilliant color photos to reveal “a new dimension in the perception and representation of nature in photography.” He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, had a solo exhibition at the MoMA, and made many books with the conservationist group Sierra Club.
Portfolio Two: Iceland
A series of lush color photographs taken by Eliot Porter during his extensive travels through Iceland. Originally appearing in a limited edition, (republished by Bulfinch Press in 1989), the exquisitely rendered images have the lyrical power we associate with Porter’s photography, and belie our expectations of Iceland’s stark snowscapes — each image teems with life.