Dudley Edmondson: Northern Waters

Online Exhibition

September 10, 2021 - January 2, 2022

Light blue fog settles over black rocks by a blue lake — Dudley Edmondson (American, b. 1962), *November Night at Stoney Point,* 2021. Digital photograph.

Dudley Edmondson is a wildlife photographer, filmmaker, author, and public speaker, from Duluth, Minnesota. Dudley Edmondson: Northern Waters features photographs and video exploring Lake Superior’s North Shore, its tributaries and surrounding waters in their many moods, over the course of the four seasons.

Through his imagery of the outdoors, including Lake Superior, the St. Louis River, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), and Voyageurs National Park, Edmondson seeks to show his audience “how I see the world, which I imagine is very different from how other people see the world.” He believes that America’s public lands belong to all of us and that we all have the right to take ownership of them. Edmondson’s photographs give us intimate looks into the region's wild places, places that Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to as the “rightful heritage” of all Americans.

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Edmondson had a passion for the outdoors from an early age. In junior high school he became interested in birds after doing a report on the Philippine eagle. Taken under the wing by a high school art teacher who was an avid bird watcher, he was inspired to take birding more seriously. Photography was initially a means to document the birds he spotted on his travels across the country visiting national parks, wildlife refuges, and other wild places. The desire to be closer to wilderness led him to Minnesota’s North Shore, where he began his career as a professional freelance photographer. Edmondson’s photography career spans nearly three decades, and his work has been featured in galleries and in nearly 100 publications around the world. Today, Edmondson resides near Duluth’s Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, where he can observe migrating hawks, allowing him to birdwatch in his own backyard.

Edmondson has observed that people of color are underrepresented outdoors. He states his philosophy as an African American outdoorsman,“ I belong to be where I choose to be. Because I am passionate about access to public lands, I refuse to allow anybody to deny me that privilege. As an American tax-payer, the lands belong to me like they belong to anyone else.” An effort to encourage outdoor recreation and eliminate barriers to outdoor access led to the publication of his landmark book Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places, which profiles African Americans in nontraditional vocations and avocations in the outdoors. Edmondson’s goal is to create a set of “outdoor role models” for the African American community and tries to “encourage African Americans to feel that same determination and passion for accessing public lands” as he does.