The Ross Hall Collection

Ross Alvin Hall (1905 ~ 1990) was one of our country's most successful and prolific photographers. He was born in Hereford, Texas and attended the Illinois College of Photography where he studied the works of Stieglitz and Steichen. Longing for the majesty of the Northwest wilderness to inspire his artistic vision, Ross got his chance in 1931 when Eastman Kodak informed him that the widow of photographer Dick Himes needed help managing a studio in Sandpoint, Idaho. Hall brought to the Northwest the same enthusiasm and respect for the area's history as had been shown by his predecessors, Edward Sheriff Curtis and Charlie Russell.

Battling back from a life threatening illness while in his early twenties, Ross disregarded his doctor's advice to lead a sedentary life style and succeeded in becoming renowned as one of our country's earliest mountain winter photographers.

In 1933, the New York Times first published his amazing winter ridgetop panorama, "The Forest Christening". Barely ten years later, other classic images, such as "Rhythm", "The Moonlight Tete-a-Tete" and "The Evening Prayer" inspired a consulting panel to Eastman Kodak to name Ross one of the top ten scenic photographers in the United States. His photographs provided the subject for covers, feature photos and articles for nearly all of the major periodicals of his era.

In 1938, Ross and Hazel Hall bought the Himes studio and transformed it into a business that belied its remote location and rural population. At one point, they employed nearly 100 people who hand-processed a million commercial lab prints a year. In one ten year stretch, the studio sold 38 million postcards.

Ross, however, did not let management obligations interfere with his photo explorations of the Northwest. What he has left behind is a masterful legacy of tens of thousands medium and large format negatives that reveal scenic wonder, thriving logging communities, Presidents, celebrities, Native Americans and early pioneer life as witnessed through the lens of an extraordinary artist and explorer.

Since Ross' death in 1990, this extensive collection has been carefully edited and managed by his son, Dann, who offers silver prints and limited edition archival prints through the Hallans Gallery. While the Ross Hall Collection website is currently under construction, Dann has graciously allowed In The Spotlight to preview a "sneak peek" at some of the prints that are currently on-line.