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Local photographer’s work on U.S. postage stamp |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 |
By Mike Bodine
Special to the Mammoth Times
 Photo by Dennis Flaherty. The photo of the Grand Tetons by local Dennis Flaherty will be the image on the new 98 cent international U.S. postage stamp. He said he took the shot from the popular Snake River Overlook, but was lucky to get the perfect combination of light and mist for an “ethereal” or other-worldly effect.
Dennis Flaherty, who has run his own photography studio in Bishop for more than 20 years, was recently notified that one of his photos of the Grand Tetons, Wyo. will be the image on the U.S. Post Office’s newest $0.98 international stamp.
The stamp went on sale June 28.
He explained that the art director for the Postal Service contacted him four years ago interested in the Teton shot. “I’ve been in the running for a couple years. Galen Rowell beat me out the first time,” Flaherty said Thursday, referring to the late, world-famous photographer who opened Mountain Light Gallery in Bishop in 2000.
But new stamps are not issued quickly, “and if the government’s involved, things are going to move slowly anyway” and after Rowell had been chosen that first time, Flaherty said, “I just kind of forgot about it.”
He said the stamp-image decision-making process is not necessarily a contest, as only “top-tier” artists are chosen to submit their work. However, Flaherty said not too many photographers get their artistic work on a stamp, and so the honor is quite prestigious.
Flaherty is probably best known locally for his Eastern Sierra calendar, with the 2010 model a 10th anniversary special of “the people’s favorites.”
Flaherty considers himself a high-end photographer even among the many fine professional photographers in the area, but he may not be the best known. “I just don’t like to toot my own horn.” And, Flaherty joked, he is only famous “on Line and Main Streets.”
Flaherty said he gets noticed more when he travels to Washington, D.C.
What started as a hobby 35 years ago has taken Flaherty all over the globe. Currently he’s working on calendars of Tuscany, Arkansas and one of Irish pubs. Later this year, he said, he’ll travel to parts of Europe to shoot stock photos. He is also a stock photographer for Getty Images, one of the largest stock photography outlets in the world.
According to his Web site, his work credits include AOL, Audubon, Backpacker, Brown Trout Publishers, Canon USA, Coldwater Creek, DaySpring Cards, Expedia, Houghton Mifflin, Microsoft, Guideposts, Sierra Club, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, Pentax USA, Sunset, TravelSmith, the U.S. Park Service, USA Today, Volvo and The Wall Street Journal.
Flaherty also has published several books of the Eastern Sierra with Companion Press, the most recent of which is A Day in the Bristlecone Pine Forest, authored by Mark Schlenz.
Aside from these publications and companies, his work has been published in 43 countries and two pieces also hangs on the walls of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.
He said despite the hard work of traveling the world and photographing the most beautiful and fascinating places he can find, “I’m glad to have been able to make a living as a photographer. I’m very lucky I get to do this.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 July 2009 )
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