About George Olson

George Olson, former Director of Photography of Sunset magazine (1995-2005) began his career as a staff photographer at the Topeka Capital-Journal, then moved to the Kansas City Star as Chief Sports Photographer. From there he moved to San Francisco to freelance. He shot for many publications, including National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and The New York Times.

He also was a picture editor for several books in the series Day in the Life…, and was Director of Photography for the book Baseball in America, and edited Planet Vegas, and Christmas in America.

He served a dozen years on the faculty of the Missouri University Photo Workshop, and taught at the Photography at the Summit workshop in Jackson Hole.

He has judged numerous contests, including Pictures of the Year; Best of Photojournalism; the Western Magazines Publishers Awards, and the Women’s Conference on Photojournalism.

After retiring he moved to Portland, OR in 2008, and there he has served as a reviewer during PhotoLucida, and a pre-screener for Critical Mass, both international competitions. He was on the Board of Directors of the Photography Council, Portland Art Museum, 2013-2022 . He also serves on the Curatorial Committee for Camerawork Gallery, the oldest photography gallery in the U.S.

A series of his humorous work, now called Roadside Distractions, was shown in an exhibit at iWitness Gallery and Light Box Gallery in Oregon, and images have been featured in American Photographer magazine, Darkroom Photography, American Way, Image, and Worth magazines. He is currently at work on a book of those images.