Roman Loranc

Growing up in his native Poland, Roman Loranc had a huge interest in photography, but little access to decent, affordable cameras. At eighteen he took a trip to Russia, and fell in love with a TTL - the Russian copy of a Nikon.

"I wanted it so desperately," Loranc remembers. "It came in a little suitcase with an enlarger, trays, a safelight, and even chemicals - everything you needed to make pictures. But they wanted an incredible amount of money for it. I was wearing the latest Levi jeans, which I'd saved a long time to buy. Having a pair of Levi's in the Eastern Bloc was like having a Mercedes Benz here. The guy asked if I wanted to trade, and I left with my first decent camera, and a pair of polyester pants that were so short I looked like an idiot for the rest of the trip." Loranc immigrated to the central valley of California. Drawn by the subtle beauty, crisp light, and mysterious Tule fogs that envelop the region each winter, he began photographing his adopted landscape. His wife's enthusiasm and her interest in the natural history of the Valley eventually led to their exploration of the area's wild places, the San Luis and Merced National Wildlife refuges, the Nature Conservancy's Cosumnes Preserve, among them, and even Modesto's East La Loma Park, alive with Valley Oak and Buckeye groves.

Out of the exploration came attachment and understanding for a resilient but threatened landscape. While California freshwater marshes and riparian corridors reminded Loranc of the childhood landscape surrounding his village of Rybarzowice in Poland, "It was in here in the remnants of Central Valley wetlands that I understood nature's dependence upon people as partners in preservation, and I hope the range of emotions I have discovered there, in myself, touch those who see my photographs."

Some photographers believe their strongest work comes from exploring their immediate surroundings. "I think of myself as a regional photographer," Loranc says, "but that does not mean the photography cannot be understood beyond the region. Right now people all over the United States indicate to me that regionalism, born of an informed attachment, has universal appeal." Loranc shoots most of his pictures within an hour's drive of his home in Modesto, California, but he is also interested in exploring his ancestral roots in Europe. For this reason he makes occasional photographic forays into Poland and Lithuania.

"I'm fascinated by the ancient churches of my homeland," he says. "These are holy spaces where millions of people have prayed for hundreds of years. They are places of great humility, and remind us how brief our lives are. I feel the same way when I'm photographing ancient groves of native oaks in California. I was unconscious of this when I began, but upon reflection, I think the oaks are just as sacred as the old cathedrals of Europe. They are sacred in that they have survived for so many years. I'm aware that the native people of California held all living things as divine. For me a grove of Valley Oaks is as sacred as any church in Europe."

Loranc's critically praised book, "Two Hearted Oak", is not "about beauty that is a trophy, a memory, a pennant marking the bones of the vanquished," writes Loranc's wife, Lillian Vallee, in the introduction. "It is a call to work, to healing, to active participation in a mercifully forgiving landscape." Loranc and Vallee have been participating in restoration efforts for almost a decade. "Our work is the product of an entire community," says Loranc. "Many public and private agencies, natural history museums, writers and poets have contributed to the underlying vision. This book is not just the work of two people."

"I think about how interconnected the world is," Loranc says. "When I'm out on a crisp winter's morning, shooting a stand of native oaks, I see oak galls hanging from the trees. These were once used to make the pyrogallol chemicals I use to develop my negatives. So the oak trees I am photographing played a part in the developer I use to process my negatives of those trees. It is healthy to remember that we are often linked to the natural world in ways we don't even suspect."