Merle Somerville

Merle has been photographing landscapes for 40+ years. His passion for finding the perfect subject has led him to visit more than 100 National Parks in North America, Australia, Central America, Europe and the South Pacific.

A traditional at heart, Merle will always love film but today creates images primarily with digital. Strongly influenced by Ansel Adams, he shares a passion for nature and detailed oriented imagery.

When asked about his work, he says, “No greater reward exists than to create and produce a photograph that expresses my thoughts and emotions, and to have those felt and understood by others”.

Merle is a North Vancouver based photographer who recently moved back to the coast from the Okanagan after 14 years. Since receiving his Canadian Masters in Photography in 1988, his work has been published in magazines. In 2014, he became one of only fifteen in North America to receive both Canadian and American Masters in Photography.

He spent most of his early career creating images for corporations, tourism and advertising agencies in Vancouver. He went on to successfully operate both commercial and portrait studios in Victoria and Vancouver, as well as a large professional lab in Vancouver called Gamma Pro Imaging.

Merle believes the art of photography is in seeing the image. Capturing is the technical craft. He feels the only way to create extraordinary photographs is to look at objects with an artistic eye and be sensitive to their light, colour, composition, texture and movement.