Since his start in Jackson Hole, WY, as a protégé of world renowned New York photographer Jay Maisel, in the early 1970s, through the early 2000s, he became renowned worldwide among editorial, corporate and advertising photo editors, art directors and graphic designers for his versatility and the quality of his images. “pro’s pro” ranked among the top ten to twenty globally in his industry niche. So why have you likely never heard of him?

First, he happily retired from the industry twenty years ago. Second, he never desired or sought public recognition. Third, he is intensely private and reclusive. And finally, fourth, in the latter half of his career he worked in the high end of the most ubiquitous, yet most obscure field of professional photography—stock. He produced speculative photos for later paid usages in the editorial, corporate and advertising fields globally. His images just “worked” in technical ways, while being rich in artistic value and emotional resonance.

In a notable event his images even helped change the direction of corporate advertising in Japan in the 1980s.

His expansive credits list for both assignments and stock reflect this with a Who’s Who of movers and shakers. Magazines like National Geographic, Audubon, Outside, Field & Stream, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and dozens more. Major book publishers like Britannica, Prentice Hall, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw-Hill, Scholastic, and numerous others. In the high paying fields of advertising and corporate communications his credits include Fortune 500 likes of IBM, AT&T, GE, General Mills, and more. Over his career his images were in numerous stock agencies, including majors Getty, Alamy, FPG International and Photonica. He was a member of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, Outdoor Writers Association of America, Professional Photographers of America and a founding member of Stock Artists Alliance.

A charismatic instructor, in the early 1990s he conducted a series of highly regarded workshops for advanced amateurs and novice pros at the historic 63 Ranch outside Livingston. Here are what some students had to say:

In a single subject I cannot remember a week in my years of school I learned so much. Never have I known an instructor who could make a point and make it stick in a person’s mind as you could.

. . . your workshop not only taught me tremendous new photographic techniques, but also served to inspire, enlighten and challenge me in very personal ways.

. . . your obvious, open, and honest love and respect for nature, art and life makes your workshop a joy. Your photography and use of light was inspiring. Your critique sessions are excellent.

I now ‘see’ totally in a new way. (Your instruction) has helped me to learn how to incorporate my life in my photography - and vice versa. This has been not just a great photography workshop, but also a ‘life experience’ to be remembered and learned from in itself.

He teaches you to begin a “conversation with light.”

With his wife/business partner Jan, he is a 47-year full-time resident of Livingston. His name is Laurance Aiuppy.

For a Special Event fundraiser, Laurance has volunteered to exclusively give a seminar for the Park County Senior Center (PCSC). This event will be a three-hour evening tour of his career retrospective of 50 years of shooting, pro and personal, in a Master Class seminar called, The Art of Seeing for Visual Artists. 

All proceeds are going to benefit PCSC. A show and tell of 300 or so of his favorite and best-selling images, how they were made, answering questions especially helpful to amateur and novice professional photographers, as well as other fields of visual arts. Topics will include light, color, composition and “emotional resonance,” how to see it, make it, capture it, in many subjects and categories.

When: Wednesday evening, April 15th from 6 to 9 pm. Costs: K-12 through college students - $45.00, Members of P.C.S.C. - $65.00, All others - $75.00. Where: The Park County Senior Center, 206 S. Main St., in Livingston. For more in depth information and support materials contact: Heather Fay, P.C.S.C. Outreach Coordinator, at heather.pcsc@gmail.com, or phone 406-624-1834.

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