 Ann Olander is a freelance writer, published in newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News, Salt Lake Tribune and Austin American Statesman and magazines like Presbyterian Today. As a city news reporter for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in the late 1990s, Ann found her niche writing personal profiles and feature stories set with mountains, music or science. Weaving human stories into diverse topics gave her work a compelling touch.
"I love the mountains," says Ann, who grew up in the Midwest. "I love the rhythm of hiking, feeling the eartch beneath my feet and quiet moments discovering wildflowers." As a former chemistry and earth science teacher, she connected theory with first-hand classroom and field-trip experiences. Ann's husband, Farley, accopmanied her on these outings occassionally, a preface to their community slide-show presentationsfrom 38 years of mountain exploring, backpacking abd hiking - sometimes hut-to-hut, as in the Swiss Alps.
Farley Olander, a metallurgist, grew up in Denver, Colorado, where the Rocky Mountains influenced his early life. An amateur photographer of 45 years, he began by shooting mountain images in his home state and attending photography workshops; one, part of a 9-day backpacking trip in Wyoming's Wind River Range. Farley has photographed weddings for friends, but his first love is landscape and nature photography. Only once did he live away from the mountains, while in graduate school at Iowa State University where he met Ann. Parents of three grown children, Andy, Katie, and Doug, the Olanders live in Alta Loma, California.
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