While Mr. Ruf’s vocation was farming and livestock production in particular, his passion is photography and more specifically nature photography. He graduated from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois with a double major in biology and art and as he has found in his later years, these areas of study have come together in his photographic work. During the summers of his college years he worked with the U.S. Forest Service as smoke chaser, lookout and trail hand and it is during these times that his relationship with the wild lands began to develop and establish their influence.

In the late 1970's he was fortunate enough to be accepted into the Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop and was not only privileged to study along side Mr. Adams but also world famous portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh of Canada and landscape photographer Phillip Hyde. These sessions in Yosemite helped to establish the focus and quality of his work in the years to come.

After a long hiatus from his craft and after watching his children grow into adulthood and leave the farm, he again picked up the tools of his trade and set off to record the wild places around his home in Northwest Iowa. From his outpost near the town of Melvin, Iowa he was within walking distance of prairies and rivers of Osceola County which provide him with a wealth of subject matter and also served as an emotional respite from farming chores.

During the past two years his creativity has also expanded into the area of creative writing and some of his essays on the land and farming have found their way into a local newspaper. His association with the Hartley, Iowa writers group has helped him hone this craft and give guidance to his literary direction. Mr. Ruf feels that both the crafts of photography and writing are “joined at the hip” and allow him the opportunity of two creative outlets to express himself and record his respect for the land.

Currently Mr. Ruf is the director of the Northwest Iowa Center for Photography located at the CR Gallery in Milford, Iowa. Until recently he was also the moderator of the Arts On Grand photo group which meets monthly in Spencer, Iowa. Both serve as avenues to educate and share the excitement of photography. Mr. Ruf also is serving as Co-chairman of Northwest Iowa’s famed Artisans Road Trip which is a free, self-guided open studio tour of local artisans.

Being an artist and environmentalist, Mr. Ruf is convinced that this world, this holy planet, is in need of outspoken participants of both sectors. It is his belief that we need talented artists to enlighten those that walk this good earth to the visual values of its wild lands. Hand in hand with today’s environmental writers the course of abuse to the remaining wild places and to the earth itself has to be drawn to a halt. With expressive photographic visuals of nature and environmental rhetoric as the sub-text we can change the environmental values of many and leave the next generation with a legacy of wild areas and seal their importance to global societies.