I am a nationally recognized artistic nature photographer. I am a member of the National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) Sarasota Branch. My art has been published in their Quarterly magazine, and featured in their online website. My art may be seen in Art Center Sarasota, Venice Art Center and annual exhibit at Selby Botanical Gardens. My photographs are in private collections in Boston, Seattle and Philadelphia area. This year, 2020, celebrates my 15th anniversary as an award winning photographer with exhibits throughout SouthWest Florida.
Through my studies of Ikebana (Japanese style flower arrangement), Raku ceramics, Shodo Calligraphy (oriental style brushing painting), and Haiku Poetry, I have become very close to nature. My enthusiasm for gardening lead me to explore my interest in photography. "The natural beauty of each individual leaf or flower becomes a work of art through the camera. To see nature clearly, to focus on the smallest details, to bring out the very essence of a flower's soul" - that is truly my intent.
My true love is photographing nature: flowers, butterflies, and other garden friends. For twenty years I lived in Asia/Pacific: Australia, Japan, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Living and learning the culture and the natural beauty of these environments gave me a strong sense of intimacy in even the smallest things. I truly have a sense of 'miksang' the Tibetan word for 'good eye', which helps me see the beauty of Nature all around us. Now that I live in Southwest Florida, I recognize many of the same type of tropical and subtropical species living abundantly in this natural environment as well as in local botanical gardens.
I have published three books - one, "NATURE FOCUSED", is a retrospective and historical evolution of my photography from 2005 thru 2010. "NATURE'S ARTISTRY", published January 2015, combines my photography with my artistic WAFU Ikebana creations. A third "HARMONY IN NATURE" is a combination of photography, Ikebana and Haiku poetry. I have found that while photographing Nature, a Haiku poem helps emote an emotional relationship to the beauty found in the lens; seemingly an energetic flow of life. It becomes a personal relationship with nature. I present to you my creativity and enthusiasm for the beauty of Nature and my progress as an artist.
"In all things of Nature there is something of the marvelous." Aristotle
Polly Curran