Rita Crane Photography
About - a micro biography

Rita Crane

Seeing through the eye of a camera was my main passion in high school—not surprisingly—since my father Ralph Crane was a photo journalist for The New York Times and a notable Life Magazine staff photographer for over thirty years. Those teen years behind a single lens reflex and the hours spent in the darkroom experimenting with wet printing techniques for black & white photography taught me skills that now translate nicely to a digital format.

Having spent much of my childhood overseas, I graduated from UCLA in History and Art History and traveled extensively through France, Switzerland, Germany, Tahiti, Los Angeles, New York City, the American Southwest and the Rocky Mountain front range. I did it partly because of my father’s profession and partly because I caught travel fever from him—I wanted to see the world. My art education apart from university studies has included years of drawing, designing, and hands-on artwork. Under the kind guidance of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, I made stained glass windows for the entrance pagodas to the beautiful temple at Odiyan, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in the hills of Sonoma County, California. A Pueblo Indian jeweler taught me lapidary and silversmithing in New Mexico, and later a partner and I designed and hand built an authentic Territorial Style adobe home complete with vigas, tilework, and kiva fireplaces in the colorful Rio Grande Valley near Albuquerque.

With Peter Temple, I founded Denali Crystal, a nationally known crystal glass sculpture company whose clients included Toyota, Pacific Bell, M.I.T., 3M Corporation, Tibet an Nyingma Meditation Center and countless private collectors. Having worked in various mediums, it’s a delight to return to my first love: photography.

Prentice Gallery on Main Street in Mendocino represents Rita Crane's entire Mendocino Collection of land and seascapes.