Ted Orland lives in Santa Cruz, California, where he pursues parallel careers in teaching, writing and photography. Ted first visited Yosemite in 1966 as a student in Ansel Adams’ Summer Photography workshop, and in the early 1970’s became assistant to Ansel Adams and printer of Adams’ Yosemite Special Edition Prints. He taught at the annual Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop fifteen times, and continues to visit the Park frequently.

In 1987 Ted became the first photographer to receive a National Park Service Artist in Residency in Yosemite, and for the past ten years has participated in the Park Service’s annual High Country Artists’ Pack Trip. In 1988 he received a Certificate of Special Recognition from the United States Congress for his work in the conservationist movement to save Mono Lake. More recently he has twice served as Juror for the annual Yosemite Renaissance Exhibition, which promotes artwork made in Yosemite National Park. Currently he teaches master classes for University of California Extension, and at workshop centers across the country.

Orland is author of Man & Yosemite, which traces the early history of Yosemite as it can be interpreted through photographs of the period; he also wrote the Introduction to Uelsmann/Yosemite, a book of decidedly contemporary images by photographer Jerry Uelsmann. A major selection of Ted’s photographs and writings appear in his monograph, Scenes of Wonder & Curiosity. Ted is the co-author (with David Bayles) of the book Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Printmaking, which explores the nature of the art-making process. Art & Fear has been on the best–seller list for art books ever since its publication in 1994, and is currently in its tenth printing.

Orland’s hand-colored black & white photographs follow in the West Coast tradition of fine craft printmaking, but engage a wide range of contemporary subject matter. Recently he has begun scanning his hand-colored work and generating an edition of inkjet prints of existing images that seem to translate well to that medium. Even more recently he’s begun bypassing the darkroom entirely(except film developing) and either “hand”-coloring images on the computer or re-working color negatives. His photographs are exhibited widely and appear in most major museum collections. He is represented by The Ansel Adams Gallery and by Nancy Hirsch Associates (Santa Barbara, California).