Edward Ranney is an internationally recognized photographer who has photographed the natural and man-altered landscape for over forty years. His work of the 1970's in the southern Andes of Peru resulted in the book MONUMENTS OF THE INCAS, 1982, which has been reprinted in an expanded edition in 2010. Since 1985 he has dedicated himself to a comprehensive photographic survey of pre-Columbian sites along the Andean Desert Coast. His recent work in the Galisteo Basin, near Santa Fe, was published in DOWN COUNTRY, text by Lucy Lippard, in 2010. In 1992 he was commissioned to photograph the route of the Illinois & Michigan Canal Heritage Corridor, which resulted in the book and exhibit PRAIRIE PASSAGE. In addition to a study of the land and townscapes of New Mexico funded in 1977-78 by a J.S.Guggenheim Fellowship, he participated in The New Mexico Photographic Survey, sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, 1982-83. Since 1979 he has annually photographed the construction of the New Mexico earth sculpture, Star Axis, under construction by Charles Ross.
In addition to his own work, Ranney has been instrumental in developing an international awareness of early 20th century Cusco photography. In 1977 he directed an Earthwatch Expedition to print and file the Martín Chambi photographic archive in Cusco, and in collaboration with the Chambi family curated and printed the retrospective exhibition MARTIN CHAMBI, PHOTOGRAPHER OF CUSCO, selections of which have been seen in many different venues throughout the North America, Europe, and Latin America.