About the Artist (Who is This Guy?)
Artist’s Statement from Daniel Loren Moret
Using lighting, composition and my equipment, I strive to express the soul of a place in the most visually expressive terms. As a photographer, I am well aware that a camera works in both directions and reveals as much about the inner state of the person behind the camera as it does about the outer world in front of the camera. Photography allows me to pursue my lifelong passion for creating art with my passion for traveling and exploring other places and cultures. Travel is the best education. As well as a mountain of fun.
From my two college degrees in cinema, I’ve been influenced by movies and the work of various cinematographers, such as Robby Muller of films directed by Wim Wenders. Oregon photographer John Bauguess was perceptive in noting that my shots resemble individual frames from movies. And there are certainly parallels in my images to American photographers such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, European photographers like Eugene Atget and Robert Frank, the German-Canadian Ulrich “Fred” Herzog (probably the finest street photographer that you’ve never heard of) and painters including Edward Hopper.
My work has regularly been on display in solo and group shows at local art galleries and other venues, and works are in many private and some public collections. For more info about that, see the Collections and Exhibits page.
Oeuvre (“Body of Work”)
For two decades, I’ve tended to look for inspiration and opportunities in the heart of major cities, and my primary interests are street scenes, public squares, statues, vintage neon and historic architecture in Europe and North America. So I’m essentially a street photographer. In my American images, my big focus in recent years is vintage neon signs (before they disappear), as well as other urban scenes along the way. Early on, my emphasis was on wilderness and the natural world, especially water, and I spent considerable time in Yellowstone and the Tetons. I work primarily in color and use digital cameras, and, for those who are curious about tools, now use a Nikon Z7 mirrorless camera and a Leica V-Lux 114, both of which are compact and well suited for street photography. The earliest images on this website were taken with a Nikon FE2 35-mm film camera.
On the Integrity of Images
A major reason for the power of photographic images to move and inspire us both intellectually and emotionally is that we view them as a genuine and rarefied window on reality. Photographs can be like carefully chosen, individual frames from a movie. In order to retain the honesty and integrity of my images, I choose not to utilize computers and Photoshop to add a moon to a night sky, remove telephone wires, or change a dull gray building into a bright yellow one. If you see an object or color in the final image, it’s because that’s what I originally saw through my lens and the camera captured, so you’re seeing the scene as if you were standing where I stood.
Dan at his successful solo show at La Follette Gallery in Eugene, Oregon in 2003.
Professional Life
In addition to his photography work, Dan has done marketing and communications work for two decades, primarily for colleges and universities, including Oregon State University and Lane Community College, as well as leading the marketing efforts for Oregon’s largest public utility, the Eugene Water and Electric Board. His creative work in writing and design has earned national awards for print advertising campaigns, brochures and a long-form student recruitment video. He’s also developed marketing materials for area nonprofits to help them communicate more effectively with their audiences, and he’s served on the board of directors for Healthy Moves, a nonprofit that is dedicated to the health of kids by providing exercise trainers to schools.
During his most recent marketing work at Oregon State University Libraries and Press from 2015-21, Dan did a range of marketing projects including being the editor of a magazine for donors (issues are available at ir.library.oregonstate.edu/collections/0v838729r?locale=en) and mentoring graphic design students. Here’s what Phoenix Dawn Thomas, a graphic design intern that he supervised for two years, had to say about Dan:
“His many strengths have made my experience…by far the best work experience I have had to-date. If my job could go beyond a student position, I would want to continue working under his guidance and expertise because he offers the eye of a designer, the mind of a writer, the principles of a leader and the heart of a friend. He is the best sort of person to have on a team because he brings out the best work in those around him.”
Formal Higher Education
Dan earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Oregon in Mass Communications with an emphasis in cinema history, theory and analysis. His wide-ranging interests also included coursework at the University of Minnesota, Minnesota State University-Mankato, Western Washington University, Fairhaven College and Lane Community College.
Current Home
When he’s not traveling, Dan lives on Friendly Street in Eugene, the second-largest city in Oregon, with partner and longtime traveling companion Paula Staight and Nebbiolo the incredible black cat. Dan loves the Northwest, the people who choose to live here and the region’s food, beer and wine. He’s previously lived in Minnesota, Iowa, Washington and Yellowstone National Park (where he managed the book and photo department at the big store at Old Faithful and, yes, saw some bears, hiked and backpacked a lot, and really got to focus on photography for the first time).