Outdoor
Photographer



July/August 2000



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The Magical
Landscape

by Mark Edward Harris

Excerpts:

Mark Oatney first seriously picked up a camera in 1992 while wrapping up his degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A friend recommended that he get a camera because she thought he had a good eye and it might be the perfect medium for someone like him, who could be simultaneously a perfectionist and a bit impatient. After receiving a degree in Biology, with an emphasis in Natural History and Botany, Oatney studied the endangered spotted owl throughout Oregon, California and Washington as a wildlife biologist, all the while defining his photographic interests.

In 1997, he made the change from science to photography and returned to Santa Cruz to work with Frans Lanting. During the next three years, Oatney licensed Lanting's natural-history photo stories with magazines around the world and on occasion assisted Lanting on assignments for National Geographic.

Simultaneously, Oatney photographed and printed some of his own work, including his unique landscapes. His infrared and high-speed film approach to nature photography evolved during four field seasons hiking at night, studying the spotted owl. Says Oatney, "This got me seeing and thinking, and eventually shooting, in terms of moonlight and high-speed films."

Through his work with Frans Lanting's images and the exposure to the world of professional photography that Lanting represents, Oatney feels his aesthetic standards became "absurdly high, which is a wonderful thing." Adds Oatney, "Frans' work is very much his own original art-- he makes his own compositions and stories out of his own ideas." This has inspired and encouraged Oatney to stay on his own course.

Lanting's approach, which Oatney calls "thoughtful, focused, relevant," has had an important influence on him: "Frans loves to tell stories through his images, and does so amazingly effectively." Oatney has always looked at his pictures as individual poems, but is also now starting to consider their potential as prose. "It's a great way to link my interests in biology and conservation with photography."

Additional praise for
Mark Oatney's work
by renowned photographer
Mark Edward Harris:


Though photography by its very nature is a solo endeavor, there is a great tradition of mentorship. Edward Steichen was strongly influenced and guided by Alfred Stieglitz, as was Arnold Newman. Alfred Eisenstaedt credited Erich Salomon as his mentor. Helmut Newton apprenticed with Berlin fashion photographer Yva. Ansel Adams' workshops and books have educated and inspired countless photographers. In this long tradition those who have been inspired - with their own innate talent - often develop a distinct personal vision and style apart from their mentors.

Santa Cruz, California-based photographer Mark Oatney credits Ansel Adams' writings and his working relationship with Frans Lanting as important elements in his photographic evolution. Oatney's path has taken him into the surreal world of infrared and high speed film photography among other places to help him express his personal vision.

One visitor commented at an exhibition of Oatney's Open Landscapes in 1998: "I keep looking for the UFO that must be lighting each scene" - so surreal are the images created by a combination of well-executed technique and a wonderful sense of composition and choice of subject matter.