Jeff Corwin

Photography and Piezography Print
30X40”
2021

Why do my landscapes look the way they do? Is it because of where I choose to  shoot? Eastern Washington State? Montana? New Mexico? I’ve thought a lot about  that over the years and my answer is no. My images look the way they do because  of what is inside of me. There are a lot of “pretty” landscapes where I go, certainly  in Montana. I gravitate to the bleak, lonely, and isolated because of what resonates  inside me. It’s what I see, because it’s what I feel. Even as I write this, I feel  disturbed saying the words. But when I was about 8 or 9, my mother told me  “you’ve always been an old man”. I’m still not sure how to take that at 66. But yes,  I’ve always been a “glass half empty” personality. So, I tend towards the emptiness  of landscapes, not the glory of mountains and meadows and late afternoon light. I  don’t need the last few minutes of the day to make a photograph that clicks. I don’t  seek out that emptiness, but after so many years, just react to it. I was told recently  that my negativity is a “bummer”. No doubt. For so many reasons, I wish it wasn’t  so. But, at this point, what would happen to the imagery I enjoy creating? How  would I navigate my approach towards something more typical and those  expectedly beautiful images. Would I end up with sparkly, saturated photos? What  would happen to the “glass half empty” stark, tones of my landscapes. I honestly  don’t know. Within certain bodies of my work, I’ve attempted to go against my  instincts. It’s never worked out. 

For me, trust is an extremely important aspect of what I do. I learned long ago to  trust my vision and not second guess things like composition or light or content. Photography is, as is many art forms, a reaction to experience, spirit,  instinct and that which immediately resonates. 

Website: https://www.jeffcorwinfineart.com/

 Over the years, Jeff Corwin has taken photos out of a helicopter, in jungles, on oil rigs and an aircraft carrier. Assignments included portraits of famous faces, including Bill Gates and Groucho Marx and photos for well-known corporate clients like Microsoft, Apple, Rolls-Royce and Time/Life. After 40+ years as a commercial photographer, Corwin has turned his discerning eye to fine art photography.

He carried his same vision forward, to see past the clutter and create photographs grounded in design. Simplicity, graphic forms and configurations that repeat are what personally resonate. Visual triggers are stark and isolated vistas: a black asphalt road cutting for miles through harvested wheat; an empty, snowy field with a stream creating a curve to a single tree; or a small barn, the roof barely visible above a barren hillside. 

Trusting his vision is important to Corwin. Inspired by his mentor Arnold Newman and the works of Piet Mondrian and Edward Hopper, his experience has taught him not to second guess elements like composition or content. Humble shapes, graphic lines. Eliminate clutter. Light when necessary. Repeat. 

After decades of photographing in B/W, his initial forays into color photography were disappointing. He then landed on a technique that is more painterly and interpretive, with colors muted and shifted in temperature. Yet the character of the photographs remains the same.

Media is paying attention to his fine art photography, with radio interviews and publications including, among others, LandEscape Art Review, Aji, Magazine 43, FOTO Cult and F-Stop. He is represented by several contemporary galleries and currently has a traveling exhibition beginning its launch in Peoria.