In 1999, Jan Bartelstone started to create a series of huge, color and black and white 'grand' landscapes. They are shot with a larger format film camera and meticulously reproduced onto luxurious archival fine art paper using the finest professional studio printers. Unless noted, they come in extremely small signed and numbered editions. The images range in image area from 20 x 30 to 24x 90. These accurate film-based photographs appear as much like fine art oil paintings or watercolors as they do fine art photographs. The creative use of different film stock, development times and lighting impart a surreal sense of beauty that only film can depict and this is done without digital alteration. When printed archivally onto fine art paper, the pieces reflect museum quality editions. Architects and interior designers as well as private collectors from all over the country are now purchasing these images. Most of the images seen here come in a medium sized version as well as larger, limited edition versions. They are pieces meant to adorn statement areas in home or office setting. The black and white editions are hand-produced in trays by Jan in a traditional darkroom. Many of the thousand of people who have seen his work compare them to such photographers as Ansel Adams and Joseph Holmes. Although, his only goal is to illuminate the extraordinary wild areas that still remain, his style is wholly unique and evokes a larger sense of mere physical beauty. Please feel free to ask about any image you may be interested in acquiring. There are a few wonderful stories behind the capturing of these landscapes. With added luck and Grace, it is my hope that the new images will bespeak of the uplifting nature and innate beauty of land and mankind.
Respectfully, Jan