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Ronald A. Lake
For me, photography is a form of insight, which aims to reveal essential facets of the world around us and our experience within it. I prefer to make images that challenge our expectations, present a new perspective, and inspire a sense of fascination.
Largely self-taught, I took up photography as a result of visiting Madagascar in 2007. Because Madagascar was so different than the suburban Connecticut environment I lived in, I thought I had better bring a camera with me, and hastily learned the basics of how to use it. Madagascar made such a deep impression on me that I felt compelled to publish a book of my photos (Glimpses of Madagascar: Lemurs and Landscapes, People and Places). Soon after, the book became a featured selection in the Annual Holiday Book Guide of Outdoor Photography magazine, and my photos were exhibited at various places. The recognition was nice, but the real effect of my “beginner’s luck” was to stoke my appetite for doing more photography - regardless of whether I had an audience or not.
The Asif Ounila River in Morocco runs southward from the Atlas Mountains through a very narrow valley that once was a route for caravans traveling between the Sahara and Marrakech. The most prominent tourist destination along the river is Ait Benhaddou, a walled town of earthen buildings that is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a film location that has been used in nearly two dozen movies and TV shows, from Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 to Game of Thrones and Outer Banks more recently.
Drive an hour north of Ait Benhaddou and you will see few if any tourists. Instead, there are small Berber (Amazigh) villages dotted along the river. The valley is a thin band of remarkably thick vegetation, a stark contrast to the steep, arid, ochre-colored mountain slopes that loom all along its length.
Stands of poplar trees fill the valley. It is still winter, so their leaves are gone. Instead, the filigreed patterns of their branches bask in the early morning light. My mind is no longer occupied by the history of the caravans, the movies, the tourists. Even the mountains recede from view. I simply gaze at the trees, and the colors that surround them.
For me, photography is a form of insight, which aims to reveal essential facets of the world around us and our experience within it. I prefer to make images that challenge our expectations, present a new perspective, and inspire a sense of fascination.
Largely self-taught, I took up photography as a result of visiting Madagascar in 2007. Because Madagascar was so different than the suburban Connecticut environment I lived in, I thought I had better bring a camera with me, and hastily learned the basics of how to use it. Madagascar made such a deep impression on me that I felt compelled to publish a book of my photos (Glimpses of Madagascar: Lemurs and Landscapes, People and Places). Soon after, the book became a featured selection in the Annual Holiday Book Guide of Outdoor Photography magazine, and my photos were exhibited at various places. The recognition was nice, but the real effect of my “beginner’s luck” was to stoke my appetite for doing more photography - regardless of whether I had an audience or not.
Since then, I have lugged my gear around the world, shooting images of landscapes, wildlife, city scenes, and people in such diverse places as Iceland, Scotland, Botswana, Namibia, China, the UK, Ecuador, Antarctica, US national parks, and my own backyard. More importantly, even when I don’t have my camera with me, I find myself viewing and appreciating my surroundings with a photographic eye.
