Eliot Porter
Eliot Porter (1901–1990) was an American photographer and naturalist whose pioneering color work transformed the way we see the natural world. Born in Winnetka, Illinois, he began photographing birds and landscapes with a Kodak box camera at his family’s summer home in Maine. Porter earned a BS in chemical engineering (1924) and an MD (1929) from Harvard, teaching there until 1938, but his passion for photography—sparked by acquiring a Leica in 1930 and galvanized by Ansel Adams’s black‑and‑white prints—led him to Alfred Stieglitz’s New York gallery An American Place in 1939.
By 1940 Porter had committed to photography full‑time, mastering large‑format cameras and the dye‑transfer process to realize richly detailed color images. Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941 to photograph birds, he published Birds of Color (MoMA, 1943) and settled in Santa Fe in 1946, where his work renewed its grant in 1947. Over the next decades he produced definitive portfolios on Glen Canyon, the Adirondacks, Baja, the Galápagos, the Grand Canyon, Appalachia, Africa, Iceland, Antarctica, and China—each volume combining Porter’s exacting technical skill with his artist’s eye.
A committed conservationist influenced by Henry David Thoreau, Porter served on the Sierra Club’s board (1962–68) and in 1962 released In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World, pairing his images with Thoreau’s texts. His contemplative landscapes won numerous honors, including the Department of the Interior’s Conservation Award, the Academy of Natural Sciences’ Gold Medal, and honorary doctorates from Colby, Albuquerque, and Dickinson Colleges. Ansel Adams hailed him as “master of nature’s color”—a legacy Porter fulfilled through work that continues to inspire both photographers and environmentalists.
Photography & Works
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Eliot Porter
Frostbitten Apples, Tesuque, New Mexico Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Hawkweed in meadow. Great Spruce Head Island, Maine, 1968 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Ice in Glacial Lake, Fjnllsarlon, South Coast Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Lichens on River Stones – South Coast Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Maple leaves and pine needles. Tamworth, New Hampshire, October 3, 1956 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Maple sapling and rock. Passaconaway, New Hampshire, 1953 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Pool in a brook. Pond Brook, near Whiteface, New Hampshire, October 1953 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Red osier. Near Great Barrington, Massachusetts., April 18, 1957 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
River Canyon Junction, Öxnadalsheidhi Read more -
Eliot Porter
Sculptured rock. Marble Canyon, Arizona, 1967 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Sea Weed at Low Tide, Hellnar, Snaefellsnes Read more -
Eliot Porter
Small Stream in Cinders, Skalafell Read more -
Eliot Porter
Sunflower and sand dune. Colorado, 1959 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Sunset behind Las Tres Virgenes Volcano. Near Mezquital, Baja, California, August 12, 1966 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Tidal marsh. Mount Desert Island, Maine, August 4, 1965 Add to cart -
Eliot Porter
Wind Eroded Volcanic Ash, Kleifarvatn Add to cart