Barbara Gilson

Portland photographer Barbara Gilson has recently put a web site online with many great images. I know Barb mainly through her husband Rich Rollins, also a wonderful photographer. Back in 1993 I took an introductory class in b/w photography (my entire formal education in photography) with Rich, and for a few years after I sat in on his three Photographic History courses at Maryhurst University, where Rich heads up the photo department. Rich and Barb are Portland's photographic power duo, something like the city's Jenshel and Cook. Unfortunately it's been hard to see much of their work because they rarely have solo shows and until recently neither had a web site. With Gilson's new site, that situation is now remedied.

Gilson's site is divided about half and half between her older b/w Diana work and newer color digital images. Here're some of my favorites of the b/w, shot mostly in the American Southwest. There is a giant print of this first one, kids jumping from a sand dune, in the reading room of the U of O Knight Library. It's right on the way as you walk upstairs to the library's photography section.






Recently Gilson has been working in color, documenting backyards and semi-natural spaces in the Portland area in a very fresh, clear (yet visually dense) way.