[2] His documentary photographs have been exhibited in major institutions around the world, including the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and the former Lenin Museum in Prague.
His Norwegian born father worked as a scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory research facility.
[5] He graduated from California State University, Chico with a major in photojournalism and was an All-American swimmer on the NCAA Division II championship team.
In 1982, Aaland appeared as a guest on the David Letterman Show, sharing work from both Sweat and County Fair.
[8] During an interview in 1981, Aaland was introduced to the newly emerging field of digital photography by renowned photographer Ansel Adams.
He also acted as an unpaid adviser to the development of both the alpha, beta, and final versions of the Adobe Photoshop Elements application.
[15][16][17] In a diversion from photography instruction, Aaland published The Sword of Heaven: A Five Continent Odyssey to Save the World (1999), detailing the six years he spent traveling around the world documenting a peace project initiated by survivors of Hiroshima and led by a Shinto priest.
During this time, Aaland dropped brick-sized pieces of a holy Shinto Sword of Heaven into bodies of water around the world to form a protective ring of kami.
[18] Aaland's most recent book, The River in My Backyard, is an illustrated memoir exploring his family history, the murder of his father, and his pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.