photo-eye | BLOG: Portfolio Profile – Beth Moon: Odin's Cove

Odin's Cove #7, Platinum/Palladium Print, 11x14" Image, Edition of 9, $2400

Beth Moon's exhibition Ancient Kingdoms, currently on view at photo-eye Gallery, explores themes of resilience and survival while exploring Moon's fascination with time and humanity's relationship with nature. Moon's work often evokes a sense of wistful wonder, and her series Odin's Cove, one of four projects featured in Ancient Kingdoms, is a perfect example of this expression. In Odin's Cove, Moon records the activities of a pair of ravens who inhabit a portion of the California coast. Through the series of images, Moon is able to capture not only the ravens' relationship to each other but her growing friendship with the pair over time. The result is a captivating body of work.

For additional insight into Odin's Cove, we have included a few statements by Beth Moon about how the series was made and her feelings about the project. Beth Moon: Ancient Kingdoms remains on view at photo-eye Gallery through Saturday, November 24, 2018.

Odin's Cove #3, Platinum/Palladium Print, 14x11" Image, Edition of 9, $2400

"Odin’s Cove is about a sense of place. It is a celebration of the beauty of nature in a visually stimulating landscape where untamed bramble and ivy suggest ancient origins. Where a regenerative view of the earth can be found, in the lush cliffs that gently slope to the sea, where music can be heard in the beating of a raven’s wing.

Odin's Cove #14, Platinum/Palladium Print,
11x14" Image, Edition of 9, $2400

This project evolved from a series of trips to a very special part of the California coastline where I developed what I can only call a friendship with a pair of ravens. Over a three year period, I made many trips to this unique area and as my relationship with the ravens grew – they taught me many things about their lives and personalities. Part pirate, part prophet, makers of magic and mischief, their throaty calls can be heard echoing through these hills. This series portrays their trust in me, their loyalty to each other, the territory they rule, and their life in the wild.

I started photographing ravens in 2010, which I titled Odin’s Cove. I first noticed the pair at the seaside in northern California upon a ledge, watching me. Fascinated by their behavior, I found myself watching their movements the entire afternoon.

Odin's Cove #9, Platinum/Palladium Print,
11x14" Image, AP, $5400

A few weeks later, I returned to the sea and to my surprise I found the birds in the same place. I returned many times over the next three years to visit the birds, and I believed they recognized me, often flying down to greet me upon my arrival. I think the birds just got used to me being there and I was careful not to intrude on their space.

I began to take pictures of the birds without any clear purpose. It just became part of my experience. It was when I happen to recall a mythological play I had once seen about the Norse god Odin that the title hit me. Odin had two ravens that flew across the land daily to keep him informed of events around the world.

The title seemed to be the structure needed and appeared to speak not only about the birds, but the place itself, and rounded all the elements together in my mind for a photographic series. Many aspects of this experience were unexpected, but none so much as the bond that I developed with these birds over time." – Beth Moon

» View the Full Odin's Cove Portfolio

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All prices listed were current at the time this post was published.

Prices will increase as the print editions sell.

For more information, and to purchase prints, please contact Gallery Staff at

505-988-5152 x202 or gallery@photoeye.com

Beth Moon: Ancient Kingdoms

On view through November 24th, 2018

» View the Work

» Read Anne Kelly's Interview with Beth Moon

» Behind the Photo with Beth Moon

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Portfolio Profile – Beth Moon: Odin's Cove