Artwork copyright Stu Levy. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Punch Bowl Falls, Oregon, 1981

Stu Levy
(American, born 1948)

Location: Columbia Basin College, Pasco

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Photographer Stu Levy captured Punch Bowl Falls, Oregon on Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It is one of over 90 waterfalls located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. He created this image using the zone system for exposure control. Renowned photographers Ansel Adams and Fred Archer formulated this technique. The zone system allows you to produce rich details, even in shadows, while also creating a sense of luminous light. Describing this image Levy notes, "Its intent is to create a primal mood, as if made soon after the lands were formed. It shows and untouched pristine landscape with a radiant halo beneath the waterfall."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Riverview School District and Columbia Basin College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Portland, Oregon-based photographer Stu Levy creates images that explore and celebrate the natural landscape. Many of his images focus on the Columbia River Gorge region in Washington and Oregon, near his home. He notes, “The landscape, however, is only my stimulus or point of departure. I ask the question, ‘What else is the landscape,’ and it is the ‘what else’ that I try to photograph.”

Stu Levy became fascinated by photography as a child. He was a photographer for his high school and college yearbooks, and became a medical doctor. In 1979, he attended a workshop in Yosemite National Park taught by the famous photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984). Levy went on to teach at the Ansel Adams Workshops during the 1908s. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and has led photography workshops on the Oregon Coast since the 1980s.