Photographer's Profile

Ton Schless

Schless Photography LLC, United States

Ton Schless is a Dutch-born fine art photographer, author, and educator whose work explores the interplay among identity, memory, landscape, and the passage of time. After an international career in technology and business, including many years spent living and working in Asia, he returned to photography with a renewed commitment to creating work that is both visually compelling and conceptually grounded. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design and his Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His artistic practice blends historical photographic processes with contemporary themes, bridging nineteenth-century craftsmanship and modern conceptual photography. Schless is best known for Echoes of Self, an ongoing series of self-portraits made with a 4×5-inch large-format camera and hand-coated dry glass plates. Through performance in the landscape, the project explores universal questions of belonging, impermanence, resilience, and the search for purpose, inspired by the Japanese concept of Ikigai. The deliberate imperfections introduced during the photographic process, bubbles, streaks, light leaks, and other physical marks, serve as visual metaphors for the imperfections that shape every human life. His work has been exhibited in juried exhibitions and galleries nationally and internationally, and has been recognized through international portfolio reviews and photography competitions. In 2026, Echoes of Self was presented as a solo exhibition with an installation at the Academy of Art University’s 625 Sutter Gallery in San Francisco, bringing together photographs from the project’s seven interconnected chapters. Schless is also the author and photographer of the two-volume Wildlife Conservation publication documenting the Bryce Canyon Wildlife Conservation Museum, combining documentary photography with a commitment to conservation education. He continues to develop museum exhibitions, fine art books, and photographic workshops that encourage deeper engagement with both the natural world and the human experience. Working from the American Southwest, Schless creates photographs that invite contemplation rather than explanation. His images transcend autobiography, using the body, landscape, and historical photographic processes to create visual metaphors that encourage viewers to reflect on their own memories, identities, and place within the world.