Linda Dufurrena

Spring/Summer 2004, Volume 21.3

Photography

Linda Dufurrena

Ranch and Range: Picturing the Great Basin

Linda Dufurrena's book of photographs Fifty Miles From Home: Riding the Long Circle of a Nevada Family Ranch (University of Nevada Press, 2002) presents a stunning vision of the Great Basin. Her work has appeared in numerous issues of Nevada Magazine and Range Magazine. She was a featured artist in Persimmon Hill Magazine, and her photographs have been exhibited in the Cui-ui Gallery, Reno, Nevada, and the Northern Nevada Museum, Elko, Nevada. She is the founder of Shooting the West, a Winnemucca gathering of world renowned photographers, now in its 17^th year. She lives and works on the Dufurrena family ranch outside of Winnemucca, Nevada, where her vision and photographs continue to document life in the Great Basin.

Linda Dufurrena is a remarkable artist. Living and working on the Dufurrena family ranch in the Quinn River Valley outside of Winnemucca, Nevada, Linda Dufurrena takes pictures:

I like to bring a focused perspective—a sense of meaning—to the world I live in. I find my subjects in the vast and ever-changing patterns of the desert atmosphere—and in the men and women who live and work here among the creatures that inhabit these wild spaces. Sometimes I see there is not a great difference between people and landscapes. I am what you might call an "intuitive" artist. I seldom search for my subjects. More often than not, I find my subjects in my wanderings. When what I see "feels'" right, I just "know" that it is right. I often photograph in the mornings—not necessarily because of the light, but because it is the most quiet in the morning. I like it out here in the quiet—the solitude. Solitude is an inspiration.

Linda Dufurrena's work is a testament to a powerful landscape and a unique way of life.