Welcome to Ann W Olson Photography, also known as Mauk Ridge Photo LLC.
In 1997 I was chosen by editor Richard C. Jackson to be the photo-illustrator of a picture book written by George Ella Lyon. This is how my life as a photographer truly began! The book is called Counting on the Woods, published by DK INK in 1998. I spent three months looking for those 35 photos, mostly in the woods. Since the best time for nature photos is early morning or later in the evening, I didn't sleep much, and I learned a very great deal despite being hot and sweaty most of the time. And happy. It was a magnificent experience.
Since then I have tried to do other books, but photography and children's books are a harder and harder sell. So I do individual framed prints, I sell quite a lot of photo note cards of my own configuration, and I continue to write when I can. I have presented at schools, workshops and conferences, which is how many children's book writers/illustrators are able to make a living. I have a gallery near my home, called Sideway Gallery, on Sideway Road. My weekly blog is called Sideway Views. (I love playing with words.) I have taken photos of many of my neighbors in this rural eastern Kentucky county: Herman plowing his tobacco, with mules, the Cox family killing a pig, some other neighbors stripping tobacco (their last crop of it) or putting up hay or keeping cows. Then there are the birds that visit here (see the slide show on my home page) or the terrible scenes connected to mountaintop removal mining.
This photo of the two mourning doves is from the book. The words it illustrates are "Two birds, daybreak's words". (By the way, did you know it is hard to find two birds who want to hang out with each other?) It helps that I live in northeastern Kentucky, a very beautiful part of the country.
I am grateful to have discovered what I love to do. Thanks for sharing this with me. As always, I thank photo-journalist John Flavell for his patient way of 'splaining things, my ex-husband, Frank, for all the framing and card paper cutting he has done, and my writers group for keeping me on as I strayed to the visual.
In 1997 I was chosen by editor Richard C. Jackson to be the photo-illustrator of a picture book written by George Ella Lyon. This is how my life as a photographer truly began! The book is called Counting on the Woods, published by DK INK in 1998. I spent three months looking for those 35 photos, mostly in the woods. Since the best time for nature photos is early morning or later in the evening, I didn't sleep much, and I learned a very great deal despite being hot and sweaty most of the time. And happy. It was a magnificent experience.
Since then I have tried to do other books, but photography and children's books are a harder and harder sell. So I do individual framed prints, I sell quite a lot of photo note cards of my own configuration, and I continue to write when I can. I have presented at schools, workshops and conferences, which is how many children's book writers/illustrators are able to make a living. I have a gallery near my home, called Sideway Gallery, on Sideway Road. My weekly blog is called Sideway Views. (I love playing with words.) I have taken photos of many of my neighbors in this rural eastern Kentucky county: Herman plowing his tobacco, with mules, the Cox family killing a pig, some other neighbors stripping tobacco (their last crop of it) or putting up hay or keeping cows. Then there are the birds that visit here (see the slide show on my home page) or the terrible scenes connected to mountaintop removal mining.
This photo of the two mourning doves is from the book. The words it illustrates are "Two birds, daybreak's words". (By the way, did you know it is hard to find two birds who want to hang out with each other?) It helps that I live in northeastern Kentucky, a very beautiful part of the country.
I am grateful to have discovered what I love to do. Thanks for sharing this with me. As always, I thank photo-journalist John Flavell for his patient way of 'splaining things, my ex-husband, Frank, for all the framing and card paper cutting he has done, and my writers group for keeping me on as I strayed to the visual.
© Ann W Olson photo