Ace Kvale

Ace Kvale’s photography is a celebration of the human element—a study of rich cultures and extreme climates, a record of first ascents and descents. His images are powerful yet humble, and his passion for storytelling has translated into a remarkable talent for weaving a complete narrative through pictures. Ace began his relationship with photography working in front of the lens as a ski model in the early eighties. This relationship shifted when he hitchhiked through Africa for five months, carrying a small manual Rollei camera. When he returned and showed his images to the professional photographers he knew, they urged him to make it a career. Ace had witnessed the world in a different way—through a viewfinder—and he’s never looked back since. Thirty years later, now one of the world’s top adventure photographers, Ace has traveled to more than sixty countries. He’s participated in twenty-five expeditions to Asia and the Himalaya, and he’s worked with many of the world's best athletes. He’s hung from helicopters in the Alps and skied first descents in Alaska. His images have appeared in dozens of magazines, from National Geographic to The National Enquirer. He’s contributed imagery to dozens of books and movies, and shot portraits of celebrities from Jerry Garcia to Tiger Woods. These days Ace is once again finding a different way of looking through the viewfinder: photography as an opportunity to raise consciousness. Through recent work with vanishing cultures and international philanthropic organizations, he’s discovered new inspiration and purpose by using his skills to help people at risk. Ace has traveled with the Himalayan Cataract Project to Ethiopia and Rwanda to document mobile eye clinics, with the dZi Foundation to Nepal where they help remote villages to build new schools, and with the Kashmir Earthquake Relief Effort to document the plight of the millions affected by the devastating quake of October 2005. “It’s not the places we go, it’s the people we meet when we get there. My focus now is on giving back to cultures I’ve come to love.” Ace has also made time in recent years to achieve some very personal goals. He’s earned his black belt in Kenpo Karate, hand-built a solar, one hundred percent off-the-grid timber frame house, and raised his son, Walter. Ace now makes his home in a tiny, remote town in the canyon country of Southern Utah with his dog Genghis. Here his love of all things ancient and sacred finds daily inspiration in prehistoric rock art, Anasazi ruins, and the vast canyon wilderness that surrounds him.