About

 

Lyn M. (L.M.) Archer | artist statement

I’m an award-winning storyteller and image maker anchored in the Pacific Northwest.

Writing and photography entered my life early via my father’s eclectic artist friends, including writer Frank Herbert, author of Dune, and photographer Jini Dellaccio.

From Dellaccio’s pioneering work, I learned the power of unconventional black and white images to tell a story. Other photographic icons whose work has influenced me deeply include Sebastião Salgado, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward S. Curtis, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Robert Capa, Lee Miller, and Phil Borges.

Additionally, I studied fine art and art history at Smith College and Gage Academy.

These studies exposed me to the works of Da Vinci, Dürer, Vermeer, Vuillard, and other masters of light, chiaroscuro, and pattern.

Art studies also taught me about composition, perspective, negative space, color theory, and other concepts crucial to image making.

A freelance writer for consumer, b2b, and b2c publications worldwide, I’ve long documented my writing travels, often with my iPhone as ‘sketchbook,’ later augmented with my Nikon Z30.

In 2020, one of my images, “Patrimoine,” placed third in the World Photography Errazuriz Wine Photographer of the Year ‘Places’ category. Commendations for other submissions followed in 2021 and 2024. To further broaden my technical skills, I’m enrolled in the 2025-2026 UW Photography Certificate program.

As a writer, I’ve learned to discern ‘the space between’ – the subtext not visible on the black and white page. Therein lies the soul of the story.

As a photographer, I work in the realms of black and white, plein-air, still life, and liminal spaces between.

Ultimately, I seek to respect the soul of my subject, and in doing so, touch the soul of the viewer.

Link to my written work here.