Meet the Artist
Dan Elster
Photography
Dan Elster was born in Chicago in 1971 and moved to Ashland, Oregon in 2006 to begin his career as a full-time wildlife photographer. He has participated in hundreds of art festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the Bellevue Art Museum show, Bend Art in the High Desert, and the Wild Arts Show for nine consecutive years. He has served as a jury member and board member for the Lithia Artisan's Market in Ashland since 2010. In 2015, he was featured on the PBS television show "Oregon Art Beat," and in 2019, he published a 150-page hardcover coffee table book of his best work. He has received over $15,000 in grant money and regularly contributes to conservation causes and children's education. His signature greeting card line, "Big Picture Greetings," donates ten percent of sales to wildlife conservation organizations, with almost $5,000 already contributed.
Materials and tools used include: traditional photography techniques for 95% of his work, with a focus on Oregon wildlife. He has recently begun experimenting with sophisticated motion-detecting techniques to photograph rare and strictly nocturnal species. He photographs only wild animals (no captive or staged subjects), always prioritizing the subjects' welfare. He performs only minor Photoshop alterations and uses archival materials for all mounting and framing, which he does himself.
Follow Dan on Facebook.