Amsterdam Montana

Jeff Corwin

Paradise Valley Montana

Jeff Corwin

Artist’s Statement

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.

About the artist

Over the years, Jeff Corwin has taken photos hanging out of a helicopter over the Thames River, in the jungles of Borneo, on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi while photographing Harrier Jet missions over the Tyrrhenian Sea for Rolls-Royce. He has done photo shoots in 41 countries/5 continents, including in Moscow with two retired KGB agents with AK-47’s accompanying him and Belfast, Northern Ireland in the mid-80’s. Assignments included portraits of famous faces, including Bill Gates, Cesar Chavez, Ray Bradbury, LA Police Chief Daryl Gates, Michael Graves, Groucho Marx and Vanna White, and photos for corporate clients like Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Boeing, Lockheed, AT&T and Time/Life. His hottest photo shoot: Abu Dhabi at 114 °F. The coldest: Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada at -40 °F.

After 40+ years as a commercial photographer, Corwin has turned his discerning eye to fine art photography, primarily landscape vistas. His commercial work has won many prestigious awards and garnered vast international media coverage. Corwin’s career shift into fine art photography is being met with the same serious attention. He is currently exhibiting in several important contemporary galleries throughout the western United States.