Dana Sharman is a self-taught fine art photographer based in Independence, Oregon. His work explores surreal and emotionally charged landscapes, blurring the line between abstraction and reality through bold color, unusual compositions, and dreamlike moments in nature.
Sharman's photographs have been juried into exhibitions at nine galleries worldwide and featured in Fstoppers magazine. In 2023, he served as a judge for the Oregon State Fair photography competition.
To ensure the highest possible presentation quality, Sharman partners with MillersLab, a nationally respected professional print lab, to produce archival-grade fine art prints on museum-quality paper, metallic substrates, and metal. His current work focuses on themes of pictorialism, surreal nature, and abstracted visions of the natural world.
Through his work, Sharman invites viewers into emotionally resonant spaces—places where beauty feels untamed, and reality itself seems to shift just beneath the surface.
ARTIST PROCESS STATEMENT
When I create, my goal is not to document reality, but to distill it. I seek out beautiful landscapes — mountain ranges, coastlines, forests — and look beyond their postcard views to uncover the quiet details that often go unnoticed. I’m drawn to textures, subtle lines, fragments of light, isolated colors — the components that together create the emotional resonance we feel in a place, but rarely stop to separate.
My process typically begins on location, shooting in RAW with my Sony A6400 mirrorless camera. I favor the crop sensor for its ability to let me zoom deeply into scenes, isolating elements that would otherwise disappear into the vastness of the landscape. I often start wide, immersing myself in the environment, then work progressively tighter, narrowing my lens onto the hidden shapes, shadows, and rhythms that speak to me.
Rather than aiming for literal representation, I create images that feel abstract, surreal, or pictorial — evoking the mood rather than documenting the scene. I think of my work as visual storytelling: revealing the world within the world.
Once captured, my images enter a long, iterative editing process using Adobe Lightroom, with occasional refinements in Photoshop. I approach editing much like sculpting — shaping, refining, and discovering. I explore contrast, tone, cropping, and color — not to fabricate something artificial, but to express the emotional essence I experienced when making the image. Some photographs evolve over weeks; others take months or years before reaching their final form.
My prints are produced through highly selective professional labs I’ve tested extensively. For my paper prints, I partner with Millers Lab, utilizing both their 328gsm heavyweight Fine Art paper for matte works and Giclée prints on metallic pearl for vibrant, dimensional pieces. For my metal work, I use HD Aluminum in Vancouver, WA, producing dye-sublimation prints on white-base aluminum. Every material is chosen intentionally to enhance the specific character of each image.
Ultimately, my work is about honoring the overlooked — the forgotten textures, shapes, and quiet moments that exist inside the grand beauty of nature. My hope is that viewers feel invited to slow down, to look again, and to see familiar places with new eyes.