Mikkel Aaland
Encyclopedia
Mikkel Aaland is an award-winning American photographer and is known for work in the early days of digital photography
. His documentary photographs have been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
and the former Lenin Museum in Prague
. Aaland is the author of books featuring his own photojournalism as well as works on digital imaging and various Adobe Photoshop
products.
. His Norwegian born father worked as a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
research facility. Aaland was an Eagle Scout
who attended Livermore High School
, where he played football
. He graduated from California State University
in Chico
with a major in photojournalism
and was an All-American swimmer on the NCAA Division II championship team.
television documentary by Moga / Jacobsen Productions.
Aaland published his second nonfiction book, County Fair: Portraits (1981) after spending nine years traveling the United States visiting county fair
s. Jon Carroll
wrote in New West magazine, "(County Fair) is a chronicle of people being who they are. These faces become historical." The photographer Mary Ellen Mark
said of the book: "Such moving photographs, funny and sad. It's real Americana. Aaland is a latter day Mike Disfarmer
." In 1982 Aaland appeared as a guest on the David Letterman Show, sharing work from both Sweat and County Fair.
During an interview in 1981 Aaland was introduced to the newly emerging field of digital photography by renowned photographer Ansel Adams
. Aaland soon became the West Coast editor of the Swedish FOTO magazine. He contributed articles and photos for other publications such as American Photographer, American Photo, Digital Creativity, Newsweek
, The Washington Post
, Popular Science
, and Wired
. In 1981 he received the National Art Directors award for photography.
Aaland eventually joined academia, lecturing about photography at Stanford University
, Drexel University
, and UC Berkeley. He also spoke at computer graphics conferences around the country.
In a diversion from photography instruction, Aaland published The Sword of Heaven: A Five Continent Odyssey to Save the World (1999). The book describes six years he spent traveling around the world documenting a peace project initiated by survivors of Hiroshima
and led by a Shinto
priest.
Beginning in 2001, Aaland began publishing a number of guidebooks about using the computer design program Photoshop to enhance digital photography; Photoshop Elements Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography was followed by second, third, and fourth volumes. He also acted as an unpaid adviser to the development of both the alpha, beta, and final versions of the Adobe Photoshop Elements application. Photoshop CS2 RAW: Using Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge, and Photoshop to Get the Most Out of Your Digital Camera (2006) was Aaland's first of two books explaining the graphic file format RAW, which is used by professional photographers.
While working as an adviser on the photo editing software for Adobe Systems
Lightroom's beta tests, Aaland proposed a real-world test of the software by inviting professional photographers to travel to a far-off land where they would use Lightroom. The result of this was Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe's Next-generation Tool for Digital Photographers (2007). Aaland followed up that book the same year with Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure: Mastering Adobe's Next-generation Tool for Digital Photographers, which brought professionals to Tasmania to show users how photographers work with the Lightroom 2 software.
Aaland's most recent book Photoshop CS3 RAW: Transform Your RAW Images into Works of Art (2008) explains and simplifies working with the RAW format of digital photographs. Ron Eggers wrote in Professional Photographer: "Aaland explains every tool and analytical device in detail. While some points could have been stressed a little more... Aaland is particularly good at providing detailed information without losing the reader in technical jargon."
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...
. His documentary photographs have been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the former Lenin Museum in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Aaland is the author of books featuring his own photojournalism as well as works on digital imaging and various Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
products.
Early years
Aaland was born in San Francisco and grew up in nearby Livermore, CaliforniaLivermore, California
Livermore is a city in Alameda County. The population as of 2010 was 80,968. Livermore is located on the eastern edge of California's San Francisco Bay Area....
. His Norwegian born father worked as a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
research facility. Aaland was an Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
who attended Livermore High School
Livermore High School
Founded in 1891, Livermore High School is a public high school located in the city of Livermore, California, USA, and is part of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District . In 2007, it was chosen as one in four schools in Alameda County to receive the California Distinguished School...
, where he played football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. He graduated from California State University
California State University
The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...
in Chico
Chico, California
Chico is the most populous city in Butte County, California, United States. The population was 86,187 at the 2010 census, up from 59,954 at the time of the 2000 census...
with a major in photojournalism
Photojournalism
Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
and was an All-American swimmer on the NCAA Division II championship team.
Beginning career
In 1978 Aaland published his first book, Sweat: The Illustrated History and Description of the Finnish Sauna, Russian Bania, Islamic Hammam, Japanese Mushi-buro, Mexican Temescal, and American Indian & Eskimo Sweat Lodge. The book was the culmination of a three-year travel and photo-journalistic tour of the world's various bathing customs. Currently the book is being developed into a PBSPublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television documentary by Moga / Jacobsen Productions.
Aaland published his second nonfiction book, County Fair: Portraits (1981) after spending nine years traveling the United States visiting county fair
Fair
A fair or fayre is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. It is normally of the essence of a fair that it is temporary; some last only an afternoon while others may ten weeks. ...
s. Jon Carroll
Jon Carroll
Jon Carroll is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, beginning in 1982, at that time succeeding Charles McCabe's column. He is featured on the back page of the Datebook on weekdays. Locally, he is best known for his moderate-to-liberal politics and his cat columns.Carroll was born in Los...
wrote in New West magazine, "(County Fair) is a chronicle of people being who they are. These faces become historical." The photographer Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark is an American photographer known for her photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography. She has had 16 collections of her work published and has been exhibited at galleries and museums worldwide. She has received numerous accolades, including three Robert F...
said of the book: "Such moving photographs, funny and sad. It's real Americana. Aaland is a latter day Mike Disfarmer
Mike Disfarmer
Mike Disfarmer was an American photographer whose portraits of everyday people in rural Arkansas became regarded as art some years after his death....
." In 1982 Aaland appeared as a guest on the David Letterman Show, sharing work from both Sweat and County Fair.
During an interview in 1981 Aaland was introduced to the newly emerging field of digital photography by renowned photographer Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
. Aaland soon became the West Coast editor of the Swedish FOTO magazine. He contributed articles and photos for other publications such as American Photographer, American Photo, Digital Creativity, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, Popular Science
Popular Science
Popular Science is an American monthly magazine founded in 1872 carrying articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. Popular Science has won over 58 awards, including the ASME awards for its journalistic excellence in both 2003 and 2004...
, and Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
. In 1981 he received the National Art Directors award for photography.
Digital photography work
One of the first to write about digital photography, Aaland released the book Digital Photography (1992). The book gives instruction and tips on using digital cameras to take unique photographs. He followed that with Still Images in Multimedia (1996) and then Shooting Digital: Pro Tips for Taking Great Pictures with Your Digital Camera (2003), which was named by Designer's Bookshelf as "Best Digital Photography Book of the Year for 2004."Aaland eventually joined academia, lecturing about photography at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Drexel University
Drexel University
Drexel University is a private research university with the main campus located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a noted financier and philanthropist. Drexel offers 70 full-time undergraduate programs and accelerated degrees...
, and UC Berkeley. He also spoke at computer graphics conferences around the country.
In a diversion from photography instruction, Aaland published The Sword of Heaven: A Five Continent Odyssey to Save the World (1999). The book describes six years he spent traveling around the world documenting a peace project initiated by survivors of Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and led by a Shinto
Shinto
or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...
priest.
Beginning in 2001, Aaland began publishing a number of guidebooks about using the computer design program Photoshop to enhance digital photography; Photoshop Elements Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography was followed by second, third, and fourth volumes. He also acted as an unpaid adviser to the development of both the alpha, beta, and final versions of the Adobe Photoshop Elements application. Photoshop CS2 RAW: Using Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge, and Photoshop to Get the Most Out of Your Digital Camera (2006) was Aaland's first of two books explaining the graphic file format RAW, which is used by professional photographers.
While working as an adviser on the photo editing software for Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
Lightroom's beta tests, Aaland proposed a real-world test of the software by inviting professional photographers to travel to a far-off land where they would use Lightroom. The result of this was Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe's Next-generation Tool for Digital Photographers (2007). Aaland followed up that book the same year with Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure: Mastering Adobe's Next-generation Tool for Digital Photographers, which brought professionals to Tasmania to show users how photographers work with the Lightroom 2 software.
Aaland's most recent book Photoshop CS3 RAW: Transform Your RAW Images into Works of Art (2008) explains and simplifies working with the RAW format of digital photographs. Ron Eggers wrote in Professional Photographer: "Aaland explains every tool and analytical device in detail. While some points could have been stressed a little more... Aaland is particularly good at providing detailed information without losing the reader in technical jargon."
Photography instruction
- Digital Photography (with Rudolph Burger), Random House: New York, 1992. ASIN B000KVE4BA
- Still Images in Multimedia, Hayden Books: Indianapolis, 1996. ISBN 1568302738
- Photoshop for the Web, O'Reilly Media: Cambridge, MA, 1998; 2nd edition, 1999. ISBN 1565926412
- Photoshop Elements Solutions: The Art of Digital Photography, Sybex: San Francisco, 2001; 2nd edition, 2002; 3rd edition, 2005; Wiley: Indianapolis, 2005. ISBN 0782144462
- Shooting Digital: Pro Tips for Taking Great Pictures with Your Digital Camera, Sybex: San Francisco, 2003; Sybex/Wiley: Indianapolis, 2007. ISBN 0470042877
- Photoshop CS2 RAW: Using Adobe Camera Raw, Bridge, and Photoshop to Get the Most Out of Your Digital Camera, O'Reilly Media: Sebastopol, 2006; reprinted as Photoshop CS3 RAW: Transform Your RAW Images into Works of Art, O'Reilly Media: Sebastopol CA, 2008. ISBN 0596008511
- Photoshop Lightroom Adventure: Mastering Adobe's Next-generation Tool for Digital Photographers, O'Reilly Media: Sebastopol, 2007; 2nd edition, 2007. ISBN 059610099X
Related reading
- Zwingle, Erlan. American Photographer, December 1, 1982.
- California Bookwatch, April 1, 2006.
- Ibid., May 1, 2008.
- Ibid., November 1, 2008.
- Internet Bookwatch, March 1, 2009.
- Lombardo, Daniel. Library Journal, March 15, 2007.
- M2 Presswire, "Helping Digital Photographers Go RAW; O'Reilly Releases Photoshop CS2 RAW," April 18, 2006.
- bid., "Photoshop CS3 RAW - New from O'Reilly Media Transform Your RAW Images into Works of Art," January 28, 2008.
- Ibid., "Photoshop Lightroom 2 Adventure - New from O'Reilly: Instruction with Inspiration," November 10, 2008.
- Petersen's Photographic, March 1, 2005.
- Lafortune, Wes. Photo Life, May 1, 2009.
- McNamara, Michael J. Popular Photography, September 1, 1993.
- Eggers, Ron. Professional Photographer, October 13, 2008.
- Ashbrook, Stanley B. PSA Journal, June 1, 2006.
- Ibid., October 1, 2006.
- Ibid., March 1, 2007
- Ibid., January 1, 2008.
- Ibid., March 1, 2008.
- Ibid., January 1, 2009.
- Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2000.
- SciTech Book News, March 1, 2001.
- Ibid., June 1, 2006.
- Ibid., December 1, 2007.
- Ibid., September 1, 2008.
- Ibid., December 1, 2008.