About the Photographer
Biography
Rory Wallwork is a completely self-taught, award-winning photographer who began his journey into photography in the not-so-distant past. He was born and raised in Northern Utah. Beginning at a young age, he has always enjoyed photography, but for a long time was never too serious about it. He took a black-and-white photography course in college, which gave him the opportunity to learn traditional film photography and darkroom techniques.
It wasn’t until he stumbled into a landscape photographer’s gallery in Las Vegas that he became quite obsessed with the possibilities. All his life he had been completely surrounded by a variety of beautiful landscapes, especially when venturing outside Northern Utah into the areas of the seven national parks to which Utah is host. “I had never really ’seen’ what was here. Once I began to look, I became more and more interested in capturing and sharing these incredible places with others. Since my experience in Las Vegas, I have relied solely on personal experience, trial and error, and the inspiration of others to get me where I am today.”
“The real voyage of discovery is not in discovering new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”
- Marcel Proust
Artist Statement
In short, I may not always succeed, but I certainly enjoy the effort.
Awards, Recognitions, and Publications
– Patterns of Nature – Sweepstakes Winner (Best of Show) – 2009 Weber County Fair.
– Patterns of Nature – Grand Prize – Doug Chinnery’s “Best Image of 2009” Competition.
– Painted Sunset – Honorable Mention – 2009 Utah State Fair.
– Rice Fields and Karst Peaks – Selected as one of 120 photographs out of over 9,000 competing images for the final judging round in the 2009 Asia Without Borders contest by Asian Geographic Magazine.
– The cover of the 2010 Ogden Valley Phone Book, which is published and distributed to over 5,000 homes.
– The Storm Passes – Published as the photograph for the month of June in the KSL 2010 weather calendar.
– The cover and three feature photographs in the 2010 Spotted Calendar,published by the Standard Examiner newspaper.
– An Editor’s Choice Award and four other pictures published in the Capture My Utah book. For more info, check out the website.
– Three grand prizes in the Taste of Ogden Valley photography competition.
About my Equipment
I think one of the most common questions a photographer is asked is “What kind of camera and equipment do you use?” This question always throws photographers off-guard.
It’s like asking Monet or Picasso what kind of paint brush and paint they used; Michelangelo what kind of chisel he used. However, one must have tools to work with. That being said, if you must know, here’s what I work with (it’s not a lot, but you have to start somewhere, right?):
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens
Canon 70-200mm f/4L lens
Canon 50mm f/1.8 II
Manfrotto 055XPROB Tripod
Manfrotto 488RC2 Ball Head
Singh-Ray Graduated Neutral Density Filters
Polarizing filter
My Inspiration
Isaac Newton once said “If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” I am by no means saying that I am better than those who have come before me, but there are definitely others who have greatly inspired me. These are a few of them, in no particular order:
Marc Adamus
Michael Anderson
Adam Barker
Peter Lik
Tom Mangelsen
David Schultz
Guy Tal
Tom Till
Darwin Wiggett
