ernest j. schweit photography
Welcome to the photography of Ernest J. Schweit . I am a fine art photographer passionate about creating beautiful images that will take your breath away.
I love exploring the natural world and using my camera to communicate what I see.
My favorite spots are the forests of the midwest, the deserts of Arizona, and the California coast.
I love to get up before dawn, load my camera gear in my backpack and make beauiful images in the early morning light. I nap during mid day, so I can save my energy to catch the "golden hour" of late afternoon and the sunset just before evening.
When my gear is packed away, I love talking to people about my work, art or life in genral. That's probably why you will find me showing my work at art fairs during the spring and summer months, and in galleries the rest of the year. I enjoy chatting with fans of my work, you can reach me by clicking on the Contact Me button below.
To keep track of where to find me and my upcoming work, why not subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Or to read about what goes into some of my work, check out my blog or click the Blog button below.
My work
I'm a fine art photographer living about 40 miles northwest of Chicago. My work has been featured on Fox 32 News Chicago and on WGN TV Channel 9, in the Chicago Tribune, the Arlington Heights, Ill., Daily Herald, the Waukegan News Sun and, the Lake County, Ill. Journal. In addition, it has been exhibited at the Robert T. Wright Gallery in Grayslake, Ill., Essex Gallery in Essex, Conn., Barnsite Art Studio and Gallery in Kewaunee, Wis. and the West Ella Gallery in Arlington Heights, Ill.
My photographic journey began when my dad handed me a film camera for my 7th birthday. Along the way, there was a lengthy detour in the newspaper business, with photography relegated to fits and starts between gigs as an editor and writer. That all changed in 2009, when the Great Recession forced me into the ranks of the unemployed. So I picked up my camera and off I went. There quickly followed a photo book, "Wisconsin Barns," a stint teaching photography, time in the commercial photo world, and the opportunity and freedom to explore the artform.
My influences
With influences like Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, David Plowden and Sam Abel, I set out on the journey of developing my own "voice." I quickly realized--and continue to believe--that the camera is an amazing tool; it can give you exactly what it sees, or it can give you what you see. And what I see as a fine art photographer is never what the camera sees. My vision is based on my personal experiences; what I see in the work of others, the shapes and textures that attract me, even the feelings of the places in which I exist, be them at home or in a far off local like Paris. Adams called that visualization; using the camera and its related tools to produce a vision in the imagination of the at the controls. That's what I try to bring to every image that I make and to each picture I offer on this website: a unique view of my world.