John Scurlock to speak at WWU Feb. 26 about aerial photography in the remote Western Ranges of North America

Renowned aerial photographer John Scurlock will give a talk entitled, "Mapping Mountains: Aerial Photography in the Remote Western Ranges of North America," from 4-5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Map Collection at Western Washington University Libraries.

This event is free and open to the public.

John Scurlock has been photographing mountains and glaciers across western North America since 2002. During his presentation, Scurlock will talk about the difficulties he has encountered in photographing alpine terrain in regions that have been poorly mapped and seldom visited, with few named features.

Scurlock has covered terrain from Alaska to California and from the Coast Mountains and Cascades to the Rockies of Canada and the United States. He has provided images for the Washington State Department of Transportation, the US Geological Survey, Department of the Interior/National Park Service, US Forest Service, Parks Canada, BC Parks, Western Washington University, University of Washington, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Northern British Columbia. 

In 2018, he completed an eleven-year project (in cooperation with Portland State University) to photograph every glacier in the lower forty-eight states. His images have appeared in numerous books and publications such as Adventure Journal, The American Alpine Journal, Canadian Alpine Journal, Journal of Glaciology, Alpinist Magazine, Rock& Ice, Ski Journal, and Climbing Magazine.   His ground-breaking book, Snow & Spire: Flights to Winter in the North Cascade Range, was published in November, 2011.

This talk is part of the “Speaking of Maps” program, which are quarterly talks designed to highlight the use and value of maps in research, in teaching and learning, and in daily life. For more information, please contact Dennis Matthews, Map Collection Manager, at Dennis.Matthews@wwu.edu.