Craig Blacklock

Senior Fellow
Blacklock_Craig

Contact

Office Phone
Office Address

P.O. Box 570
Moose Lake, MN 55767
United States

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Summary

Son of pioneering color nature photographer, author and environmentalist, Les Blacklock, Craig Blacklock grew up with a camera in hand. He often accompanied his father on photography trips throughout the American West and most often to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. After college, Craig joined with him in co-photographing several books and dozens of calendars. Craig’s first wife, Nadine Blacklock also contributed her photography to the family business until her death in an automobile accident in 1998.

Craig’s artistic practice is intrinsically linked to the interface of land and water in wilderness areas—most often Lake Superior. Since 1976 his artwork has evolved from large-format color landscapes depicting what these places looked like; to black and white nudes creating an emotional connection to the landscapes by expressing what it felt like to be within their environs; to increasingly non-representational imagery untethered from context.

In his new Light Waves photographs, the shoreline of Lake Superior and the sky above are seen only indirectly—reflecting as an amalgamation from the complex mirror of the water’s surface. In videos produced from these stills, images flow from one to the next like the waves themselves, with no distinct boundaries.

Blacklock’s work has been shown in over 35 solo exhibitions, including at the Phipps Center for the Arts, Mill City Museum, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Minnesota Center for Photography, Palm Beach Photographic Centre, and Tweed Museum of Art. His 19 books have won numerous awards, including three gold awards from Independent Publishers, a world-wide competition. Blacklock was the 2018 recipient of the George Morrison Artist Award.

Expertise

Still nature photography

Video nature photography

Digital image editing

Awards & Recognition

Fine Art Photo Awards, nomination, Professional Nudes 2016
International Color Awards, nomination 2016
International Photographer of the Year, 2nd Place, Professional Nudes 2015
Black and White Spider Awards, 5 nominations, 2015
International Photography Awards, several, including 2nd place in Books, Nature, 2012
International Book Awards, Finalist Awards for 2 books, 2012
Midwest Independent Publishers, Best Illustrated book, 2007
Midwest Independent Publishers, Best coffee table/art book, 2005
Independent Publishers, Best Photography Book, 2005 (from 1327 publishers worldwide)
Black and White Single Image contest, Bronze Award, Nudes, 2005
National Freedom Award, Nature/Art, 1999
Midwest Independent Publishers, Best Hardcover Book Award, 1996
Mid-America Publishers Association, Best Photographic Book Award, 1996
Benjamin Franklin Award, 1996
Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award, 1994
Minnesota Book Award, Illustrated Book 1994
Midwest Book Achievement Awards (3 including best hardcover), 1994

Research

Publications

(Sole or co-photographed with either Les Blacklock or Nadine Blacklock)

“Apostle Islands — From Land and Sea” 2012
“Pictured Rocks — From Land and Sea” 2012
“Slot Canyons of Page Arizona, April 2011
“Minnesota’s North Shore” (with accompanying 3 hour movie), 2007
“A Voice Within — The Lake Superior Nudes”, 2004
“Horizons”, 2002
“The Duluth Portfolio”, 1995
“Gooseberry”, 1994
“The Lake Superior Images”, 1993
“Border Country, The Quetico-Superior Wilderness”, 1988; re-issued in 1999
“The Geese of Silver Lake”, 1989
“Photographing Wildflowers, Techniques for the Advanced Amateur and Professional”, 1987
“Wild Boars”, 1987
“Minnesota Wild”, 1983
“Our Minnesota”, 1982, revised edition 1992
“Black Hills Badlands, The Web of the West”, 1981
“Journeys to Door County”, first edition 1979, revised edition 1985

Videos:

Several short videos as apps and DVDs, 2012 Center for Spirituality and Healing
at the U of M.)
Garden of Pure Water, 2009 (Center for Spirituality and Healing at the U of M.)
Minnesota’s North Shore, 2007 (An edited version has been broadcast over several public television stations, and repeatedly on Twin Cities Public Television.

Other Selected Credits:

Magazines: Airone, American Photo, Audubon, Backpacker, Canoe, Newsweek, Fine Art Photo (Germany), Focus, Outdoor Photographer, Lake Superior, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, National Wildlife, Reader’s Digest, Shutterbug, Sierra Club, Smithsonian, and View Camera. Calendars: Several titles over many years published by Voyageur Press, included in many national calendars each year. Self-published Minnesota Seasons and Lake Superior calendars for many years.

Teaching

Academic Interests and Focus

Stress and pain relief using nature videos

Courses

Various nature photography