Lois Conner

The New York-based photographer Lois Conner has been travelling the world with an elongated 18 cm x 45 cm view camera (see the picture above) for nearly half a century. Through this unique format, she has been able to capture the landscape and the temper of our times; her art is both contemporary and, due to her vision, ‘a long view’ that captures the eternal in the moment, timeless.

Conner’s work is that of the artist-artisan: every aspect of her art involves the hand made printing process – including her admirable mastery of the demanding techniques of platinum printing that generates a very distinctive image hue.

The picture shown here was shot on the roof-top of the now defunct Beijing World Fantasy Hotel in Beijing Shijingshan – which was one of the first amusement park in the country. This is a great example of the elongated images that are a signature of her work.

Her annual trips to China since 1984 have allowed her to follow the transformation of the People’s Republic and to share her unique understanding of the country’s changing urban and rural mien, as well as the vistas that inspired the country’s unique culture.

Conner has been based in New York City since 1971, where she worked for the United Nations until 1984. During that time she was awarded a Bachelor in Fine Arts (photography) from the Pratt Institute and a Master’s degree from Yale University. Conner has also taught photography since, including over a decade as professor of photography at Yale University. Conner's work has been shown at museums internationally and included in such collections as the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Australian National Gallery in Canberra, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the British Library.