Last month Steven’s image “Grand Staircase Aspens” graced the cover of the American Psychologist, the monthly journal of the American Psychological Association . We thank Sandy Fowler, the art editor, for facilitating this project and writing the biography that accompanied the cover piece

Also in November, Steven was invited to speak on a panel at the Portland Photographer’s Fanfare at the University of Portland. We thank Robert Brummitt of the Portland Photographer’s Association for the invitation.

Finally in November, the gallery donated a print to the annual auction to support the Washington Wilderness Coalition. This is the second year we have supported this organization and its important work locally to preserve natural places in this state.

Former Governor Dan Evans spoke at the dinner emphasizing the importance of coalition building in the political process to preserve the environment. The Seattle Times wrote a nice editorial about Dan Evans remarks that night. In December, we are beginning to do our first project with the Sierra Club. We will be providing gift packages, including cards and prints, for the donors to the local chapter.

Finally, the holidays are upon us. We extend our best wishes to all that visited and helped support the gallery this year. We invite you to visit the gallery this month and think about giving art for the holidays. Our prints are perfect for those people with empty wall space and a passion for the natural environment.

Steven’s recent travels have taken him from the Oregon High desert, to the California Redwood coast, and to the North Cascades of Washington. He spent two weeks in May shooting editorial work for the Wilderness Society in South Eastern Oregon. The shoot began in the Steens Mountain area, a remote 9000 foot monolith near the Oregon-Nevada Border. Steens Mountain makes it own weather and the shoot was complicated with high winds, snow, and wildly fluctuating temperatures. The greenery and wildflowers were beautiful and the solitude profound. The editorial issues there involve Bureau of Land Management transportation planning and whether current roads should be restricted to foot travel and allowed to turn into trails.Our second Oregon location was in the Spring Basin Wilderness Study Unit near Madras. Spring Basin is a hot, dry piece of high desert country with beautiful wildflowers and challenging access problems because of some recent court decisions blocking the road to visitor travel.

In June, Steven went to the Redwoods in Northern California, a place he has been many times before. The wild rhododendrons were in bloom and we had several foggy windless days in the woods that were perfect for making images with view cameras.

Currently, Steven is working in the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness area in the North Cascades of Washington. We are collecting images for the gallery and the Wilderness Society in this diversely beautiful area. Access is another serious problem in the North Cascades this summer as many of the roads and trails have been washed out by the severe floods that we had last fall. Look for Wild Sky images on the site as the next two months progress.