Biography

Merle Somerville

Master of Photographic Arts Degree

Merle has been photographing landscapes for over 30 years. His passion for finding the perfect image, has lead him to photographing more than 100 British Columbia parks and scouting locations in the United States, Australia, Central America and the South Pacific. Since completing his Canadian Master’s in Photography in 1978, his work has been published by several national magazines, tourism marketers and recently the Knowledge Network in celebrating British Columbia’s 150th Anniversary. Merle’s first solo exhibition was in Vancouver in 1999, followed by several other exhibitions featuring his large-format panoramic images of American National Parks.

Often revisiting each location several times to capture the perfect light, Merle can be found with his favorite tool— his wide-format, single reflex Panorama Fujica G617 Professional film-based camera. He still prefers film to digital because the format of his panorama camera captures more information such as tonal range and detail. He says “That’s how your eyes see a landscape”. Merle’s early work was strongly influenced by Ansel Adams whom Merle shares his passion for nature, black and white imagery and the true photographic process (traditional film and wet darkroom).

Although Merle served as a commercial photographer and owner of a professional photo lab for twenty years, he is best known now for his photo-based artwork. With the emergence of digital imaging and the various effects made possible by the digital darkroom, Merle’s new work has begun to show influence of a romantic, pictorialism style and is now printed using archival inkjet and media.

In 2007, Merle relocated to the Southern Okanagan to pursue his creative study of the BC’s wine country. His first body of work featuring BC viticulture showcased coloured-sepia landscapes and still life. This work won him high praise from his peers and was selected for the prestigious Fidelis Art Prints, “Vineyard Art Collection” in 2008.

Merle continues to photograph his landscapes toggling between the traditional film and digital (selecting the camera and format that best suits each subject and body of work). Asking him what matters most for him in creating his artwork, he says, “No greater reward exists for me than to produce a photograph that expresses my thoughts and emotions—and to have those felt and understood by someone else.”