Thank you for visiting my website, RudyOwens.com. I am a native Midwesterner who has called the Pacific Northwest home for many years. I also am a proud Finnish-American, among other ethnicities, including Welsh, English, and a few other odds and end. I currently live in Portland, Oregon.
I am a public health, communications, public affairs, and advocacy professional, with an MA and MPH. As an advocate for adoptee rights, I published the first-of-its-kind nonfiction, public-health memoir called You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are in 2018. My book highlights my decades-long efforts to obtain my original birth records and to restore legal rights to all adoptees that are currently denied by discriminatory state laws.
My latest photography, writing, and research projects have focused on Finland. I trace a quarter of my ancestry to this Nordic nation, which continues to achieve high marks for governance, gender equity, basic education, public health, societal wellbeing, and providing for the needs of its people.
My photo essays can be found on my Rudyfoto.com website. You can also find my photo essays on my photography blog. Please contact me if you wish to comment on my material published on any of my websites or if you want to discuss licensing my professional work. (Last updated October 2024.)