It’s a Wide World: Whitman Staff Photographer Showcases Panoramic Prints
If you’ve visited the Whitman Web site, read an issue of Whitman Magazine, or picked up just about any college publication over the past two years, then you’re probably already familiar with the impressive photography of Greg Lehman, Whitman communications officer and staff photographer. Now a new installation at the Stevens Gallery at Reid Campus Center is showcasing the wider range of Lehman’s talent – as well as his love for the picturesque Walla Walla Valley.
Titled, “Walla Walla Wide,” Lehman’s series of striking canvas prints is the result of his recent interest in using digital graphics software to create rich panoramic images. From massive storm clouds rolling through the Walulla Gap, to a colorful rainbow hovering over Memorial Hall, each piece offers a wide perspective of a different local vista.
“I’ve always felt sort of confined by that little rectangle viewfinder. It’s just not how we really see things,” says Lehman, who digitally “stitches” multiple images together to create each wide-format print. “I’m not just widening a single shot, I’m using a number of images to get everything in great detail.”
For example, Greg refers to a print of the Walla Walla Valley created by four separate photos taken high atop his favorite lookout. In this single hybrid image – complete with a rainbow illuminating the entire Valley – viewers are seamlessly transported from the Walla Walla Airport all the way to the Washington-Oregon state line. “I’d say that’s about a 10 mile span,” says Lehman.
With more than two decades of work behind the lens, Lehman’s career includes 18 years as a photojournalist for the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. In addition to his current role with Whitman’s communications department, he also operates Greg Lehman Photography, specializing in creative wedding and family photography in the Walla Walla area.
Walla Walla Wide is on display at Stevens Gallery through August. See more of Lehman’s work at www.lehmanphotography.net.
