Ann W. Olson, Mauk Ridge Photography

eastern bluebird and his nest

I live in northeastern Kentucky, near Morehead and Olive Hill, a lovely region with hilly terrain covered with small tobacco farms and with forests.  I took all the photos for the children's book I photo-illustrated -- Counting on the Woods, by George Ella Lyon (DK Ink, 1998) -- near where I live on Mauk Ridge in Elliott County.  The bluebird is a close neighbor, and the newly hung tobacco (below) was hanging in my neighbor Larry's barn.

hanging to cure

      I am delighted to have this web page as a member of the Cave Run Arts Association and to learn how to share my photos on the web.  This site will always be under construction; I plan to add more images and more information as time permits.  In the meantime, if you want to contact me, please use my email:

ann-w-olson(at)excite.com.  I have both hardback copies and paperback copies of Counting on the Woods for sale, signed by the author as well as myself.  Ilfochrome prints of the slides I take are available in a variety of sizes framed or only matted.  Also,

I offer over 50 hand-assembled, signed photo notecards ($2.50/card). 

 Thank you so much for your interest in my work.   Ann W. Olson

still light taken early one morning in England, in Chipping Campden, at the home of my father and stepmother. (available as a notecard)

Lucy Vincent Beach, Martha's Vineyard, September 2004, of an evening

     I call this image "Tide Light".

     My images from Martha's Vineyard were taken in September 2004 during a weeklong workshop led by Alison Shaw under the auspices of the Maine Photographic Workshops.  I appreciate the Individual Artist Professional Development Grant I received from the Kentucky Arts Council to help with the cost of this new learning opportunity.

    Although my first choice is to photograph near home in eastern Kentucky, I also appreciated the chance to see Vietnam during a college sponsored trip there in March 2003.  We spent a lot of time on the water; the first of the five photos shows a misty morning on Halong Bay. 

    For now, this last image will have to stand for something a photographer thinks about all the time, how change happens.  This shows the dismantling of an iron bridge, the one at Cliffside on the Little Sandy here in Elliott County, on a drizzly day.  I didn't know they planned to take this bridge down so soon after the new road was ready.  I am glad I happened by, in time. 

January 2006  -- Finally, here are the links I've wanted to add since last spring!

     I would like to thank John Flavell for all his help with this web site, with my new slide scanner and with photography questions in general.  His humor helps, too.  He has some valuable photography links on his website.

     Then there are my remarkable cohorts in my writers group, Leatha Kendrick, Marie Bradby and George Ella Lyon, who among her many books wrote Counting on the Woods. Seven of us have been meeting -- and trusting each other -- since pre-web days!  Five of us have essays in I to I: Life Writing by Kentucky Feminists (Western Kentucky University, 2004). 

      I'm proud to have contributed photos to a recent book about the abhorent mining practice, "mountaintop removal".  The book, Missing Mountains, published by Wind Publications, featuring pieces by 35 Kentucky authors, was spearheaded by Wendell Berry in cooperation with Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC). 

      Two Cincinnati friends, Alice Ann and John, have an outstanding mystery book business called Grave Matters.  And I highly recommend Peg and Tim Taylor's Farm House Inn B and B in McCreary County, Kentucky, near Cumberland Falls.  From Ukiah, California, my step-sister Haven has just published her second book, The California Wine Country Diet.  Please note also that two fellow members of the Cave Run Arts Association in Morehead, Kentucky, Joe Sartor and Karen Telford,  have new web sites.  Bravo! 

      I give thanks to Kyle McDaniel (1987-2005) for his willingness to be part of Counting on the Woods and for the fine job he did in the photos.  We all miss him very much.