About Nature Photographer Marion Patterson in Perreault Magazine by Brigitte Perreault

             Play. Laugh. Dance. Sing. Delight in everything. It’s all a dance.

One time when I was in despair because nobody was buying my work and I was broke, I phoned Minor White. He said, “What’s wrong?” I said, “I’m tired of doing work that nobody looks at and nobody wants. I just want to quit all this.” He said, “If one person is inspired by seeing something you have done you must keep working. Now forget about yourself. Get to work. Take chances.”

... From wonder into wonder existence open - Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

Marion Patterson's photographs are indeed inspiring and invite reflection, emotions, peace. They provide a quiet meditation on the beauty of our natural environment in a manner that reflects the author’s lifelong ties to the West Coast school of photography, deeply influenced by Edward Weston and Ansel Adams.

Mrs. Patterson worked extensively with Ansel Adams, and has taught photography at several California colleges. She has had major solo exhibits of her work in the United States, Germany, The Netherlands, and Mexico. A native San Franciscan and Stanford graduate, Marion Patterson has been involved in photography since 1956, when she began studies at the San Francisco Art Institute with such luminaries as Dorothea Lange and Minor White. From 1958 to 1961, she worked for Virginia and Ansel Adams in Yosemite and has remained closely associated with the Adams family since then. From 1961 to 1964 she was assistant to the photography editor of Sunset Magazine.

While at Sunset, she prepared her first Major exhibit, which was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern art in 1965. Living in Oaxaca, Mexico, for a year resulted in another one-woman exhibit, at the Oakland Museum in 1966. Her Photo graphs have been widely published and exhibited nationally and internationally. “When I look at a picture of Marion’s, I react to the openness, the sense that the subject isn’t clearly set in boundaries that exclude it from what lies around it. With continued viewing of the images, a deeper awareness emerges beyond the frame. Marion’s photographs are all about nature reaching out of the frame.”

                                                                         - From the Foreword by Charis Wilson