Ellen Spotts

Ellen’s passion for the great outdoors began at an early age while backpacking with her family in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.  She furthered her love and understanding of the natural world while earning a geology degree from Occidental College.  Ellen was both a petroleum geologist (oil and gas industry) and a hydrogeologist (environmental industry).  Her geology career took her to remote places in Montana and Wyoming; places so wild and beautiful that a camera was always close at hand.  

In 1995, after a successful career as a geologist, she traded in her rock pick and compass for a camera and tripod, and attended the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana.  She began her photography career using film, and has now made the transition to digital capture.  Ellen considers herself a traditional photographer, using the computer primarily as a tool to help her represent in print the feeling and appearance of the subject, whether it be a big-sky landscape or an abstract representation of a flower, at the time of capture.  She will tell you, “…It comes from within, this passion for capturing life with my camera.  The decisive moment is when the light, subject matter, angle of view, and the environment all come together.”  In pursuit of the perfect image, Ellen wakes while others sleep, studies the landscape while others make casual observations, and she hauls around a tripod instead of a walking stick.  Her passion about photography can be seen not only in her work, but in her ability to teach others about all aspects of the art.

Ellen’s fine art color and black and white prints are widely collected and exhibited and can be found in some of the finest residences in Orange County, and on the walls of numerous Southern California-based companies.  Over the years, her work has been published in numerous books and periodicals.  She also produces assignment photography and stock photo images for the advertising industry.  Some of her commercial clients include Land Rover North America, Coastal Oak Realty, Meritage Realty, Loan Advisors, Bacchus Development, Cooper Mcmanus, REI, American Express, The Irvine Company, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Napa Valley Appellation, Hollis and Associates, Magellan Co., and Fashion Island.