Three Shenandoah Valley photographers/professors are teaming up to present a show of their work at Blandy Experimental Farm, home of the State Arboretum of Virginia.
鈥淟eaf. Flower. Spiral. The Flow of Energy in the Natural World鈥� opened Sunday, Feb. 13 with a reception from 3-5 p.m.
Steven David Johnson, Scott Jost, and Howard Zehr are all experienced photographers with an interest in the natural world. Johnson and Zehr are professors at 草莓社区, while Jost, a former EMU prof, now teaches photography and design at Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, Va.
Portfolios focus on nature’s beauty
Johnson鈥檚 work focuses on whirlpools, natural spirals that form abstract patterns in the images he shot on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.
Jost鈥檚 portfolio of photos, called 鈥淯n/Cultivated,鈥� uses very shallow depth of field to create lush, colorful images of emerging spring plants that evoke feelings of renewal and growth.
Zehr鈥檚 鈥淟eaf Portraits鈥� capture the personalities, textures, and individualities of leaves using portrait lighting in a studio setting.
鈥淩ather than seek 鈥榩erfect鈥� specimens at the peak of their development, I watched for leaves with personality, leaves that showed signs of having lived and were now moving toward 鈥榙eath,鈥欌�� Zehr explained. Many of the leaves came from his own yard.
Zehr鈥檚 photography has been included in a variety of publications and exhibits, including four books published by Good Books. Jost is a contributing photographer to 鈥淭he Great Valley Road of Virginia: Shenandoah Landscapes from Prehistory to the Present.鈥� Johnson is a featured artist in Ruminate Magazine and Rock and Sling, and his work has also been published in Orion, Shots, Blue Ridge Country, and National Geographic Traveler.
The exhibit is on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily in the dining room and will hang through March 27. All works are for sale, and range in price from $175 to $225. Small prints and cards are also available.
About the Arboretum
The State Arboretum of Virginia is part of historic Blandy Experimental Farm, a research field station for the University of Virginia鈥檚 Department of Environmental Sciences. Blandy Experimental Farm is on Route 50 in Clarke County, about 10 miles east of Winchester and 20 miles west of Middleburg. Directions and a calendar of events are online at .