Rodney Lough Jr. (born 1960) is an American landscape

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

and gallery owner.

Early life

Rodney Lough Jr. was born 1960 in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

. Lough spent part of his childhood in

Lake Oswego, Oregon Lake Oswego () is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Located about south of Portland and surrounding the Oswego Lake, the town w ...

. His first camera, an Olympus OM-1, was a gift from an uncle when Lough was a child. In 1988 at the age of 28, he graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

with a Master of Science in Statistics degree.William Sawalich,
A New Look at the Landscape
, ''Outdoor Photographer.'' Accessed 2009-08-17.

Career

After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1988, Lough worked as a statistician and mathematician. Seven years later in 1995, he became a full-time photographer. In 1999, Lough received the A.B. Jackson Award for photography at Virginia's Art Explosure. In 2000-2001, while living in

Happy Valley, Oregon Happy Valley is a suburban city in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Happy Valley is near the northwest edge of Clackamas County, Oregon, United States approximately 10 miles to the southeast of downtown Portland, Oregon. The population was ...

, Lough focused on landscape photography and drew his entire income from art festival circuit artwork sales. In 2000, he spent six months out of the year driving to and participated in 32 shows around the United States and spent the other six months photographing landscape scenes. In 2001, his efforts paid off and he was invited to participate in the Lake Oswego, Oregon art festival, close to where he grew up. Lough also opened his first gallery in 2001. In 2009, Lough opened Rodney Lough Jr. Wilderness Collections to sell award-winning photography in the Mall of America, one of the largest

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in the United States that is located in Bloomington,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. Later that year, in December, Lough opened his City Center Gallery in CityCenter Las Vegas, a mixed-use, urban complex on located on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city ...

in Paradise, Nevada that opened on December 16, 2009. Along with American glass sculptor and entrepreneur Dale Chihuly and contemporary bronze sculpture figurative artist Richard MacDonald, Lough's works contribute to comprising a Gallery Row of Fine Art at CityCenter. By May 2010, Lough photography success had gained him a fan base of young photographers. One commentator noted in August 2010 that, at Lough's Wilderness Collections gallery in

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's ...

, "the jump-out-at-you colors of the

nature photography Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...

of Rodney Lough Jr. recalled memories of visits to

Point Reyes Point Reyes (, meaning "Point of the Kings") is a prominent cape and popular Northern California tourist destination on the Pacific coast. Located in Marin County, it is approximately west-northwest of San Francisco. The term is often appli ...

and

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

." In August 2011, Lough's The Lough Road company received US$650, 000 in funding from

angel investment An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

company

Keiretsu Forum Keiretsu Forum, which was founded in 2000 by Randy Williams, is a private group of international members comprising an angel investor network. The network has 53 chapters in cities such as San Francisco California, Seattle Washington, New York C ...

to open a

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

of the Rodney Lough Jr. Wilderness Collection Gallery. Wilderness Collection Gallery San Francisco, located on One Jefferson Street in San Francisco, features Lough's wilderness landscape. In December 2011, the readers of

Popular Photography ''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...

magazine named Lough the grand prize winner in that magazine's 18th annual Readers' Photo Contest. The natural world photo which brought him the top award over 3,500 other previously award winning submissions, "Passing Through," was taken at Nevada's

Black Rock Desert __NOTOC__ The Black Rock Desert is a semi-arid region (in the Great Basin shrub steppe eco-region) of lava beds and playa, or alkali flats, situated in the Black Rock Desert–High Rock Canyon Emigrant Trails National Conservation Area, a si ...

and focused on color, texture and detail that allowed viewers to see in real life what they otherwise would never see. In 2012, Lough lead several outdoor photography workshops in Arizona's Antelope Slot Canyon near

Page, Arizona Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 7,247. History Unlike other cities in the area, Page was founded in 1957 as a housing com ...

. Also in 2012, Trewin Framery and Art Gallery in

Modesto, California Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

maintained an ongoing exhibit of Lough's work.

Awards

Through his photography career, Lough or his company has won: * 2007 Nature's Best Photography

Windland Smith Rice Sandra Windland "Wendy" Smith Rice (January 19, 1970 – May 31, 2005) was an American nature and animal photographer. Biography Sandra Windland Smith-Rice was the first child of Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx and Linda Smith Grisham Mc ...

International Print Awards - Best Landscape Photographer * 2009

Printing Industries of America Printing Industries of America was a nonprofit trade association which advocates for the United States printing industry. It was the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, representing more than 6,500 member companies and an industry w ...

Award ("Benny" Award) - Best of Category for 'Art Books (4 or more colors)' - for ''Beyond the Trail'' * 2014 Wilderness Forever at Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - Grand Prize

Books

* * * *

Exhibitions

*"Nature's Best".

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

(2007–2008) *"Wilderness Forever".

(2014–2015)at [Smithsonian
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

References

External links

* Official website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lough, Rodney, Jr. 1960 births Brigham Young University alumni Living people People from Happy Valley, Oregon Artists from Jacksonville, Florida Photographers from Oregon