Ray Atkeson



Ray Atkeson (February 13, 1907 – May 25, 1990) was a U.S. photographer best known for his landscape images, particularly of the American West. His best known photographs are black and white prints, many still popular in galleries, stores, books, traveling art exhibitions, and screensavers. His awards include:
 * 1977 Distinguished Citizen of Oregon
 * Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Linfield College
 * Distinguished Service Award
 * 1986 Oregon Governor's Art Award
 * Oregon state Photographer Laureate (1987–1990).

Career
Ray Atkeson was a commercial photographer in Portland, Oregon for eighteen years 1928–1946 after arriving in Oregon in 1927. His industrial photographs captured activity at the Columbia Steel Casting Company to women building warships for World War II. From 1946 to 1973 he was a free lance photographer and published several photo compilations. The photobooks are mostly of Oregon and Washington, but later work included California.

Atkeson lugged around heavy 4x5 Speed Graphic camera equipment to photograph winter mountain scenes before the chairlift was invented. Among his subjects were Errol Flynn, Yosemite, and many of the Oregon and Washington Cascade mountains. Alan Engen called Atkeson "the finest ski photographer ever." In his later years his granddaughter Karen Schmeer assisted him with his work, including driving him to photo-shoot locations after his eyesight began to fail.

Atkeson maintained two homes: one on the Oregon Coast, the other in Portland.

Atkeson was one of the chief petitioners for the successful Oregon Ballot Measure 7 (1988) which added 500 mi to the Oregon Scenic Waterway System.

Legacy
A Ray Atkeson Memorial Trail is marked at Sparks Lake, Oregon.

The Ray Atkeson Photography Collection was donated to the University of Oregon in 2018. It contains over 250,000 negatives which are available to researchers.

His photographs were featured in a 2021–2022 exhibit "Freeze the Day! A History of Winter Sports in Oregon" at the Oregon Historical Society.