By Molly Kirk/DWR
If you’ve read about Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia, in the September/October issue of Virginia Wildlife magazine, you know it’s a haven for wildlife photographers. On any given day, wildlife enthusiasts toting cameras crowd the iconic boardwalk at Huntley Meadows, jockeying to capture that special image.
And in the Norma Hoffman Visitor Center at Huntley Meadows, you can see the results of many of those photographic efforts at the Nature Through Women’s Eyes photography exhibit, which is running from September 1 through November 23. Five local women who photograph wildlife nationally and internationally—some professionally, some as amateurs—chose 40 images of wildlife captured at parks and refuges to display. “It is a pleasure to exhibit at Huntley Meadows, which is a major source of inspiration and photographic opportunity for all of us,” said Jane Gamble, who joins fellow photographers Elaine Starr, Beth Howell, Kathrin Swoboda, and Rena Schild as the exhibitors.
“Newborn” by Beth Howell
The exhibit previously hung at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland, in April, and then for two months in the U.S. Geological Survey’s headquarters building in Reston, Virginia.
“I had to come up with a theme, and I thought, ‘Let’s just do it on women photographers,” Gamble said. “It’s still somewhat of a man’s world out there, you could say. But there are lots of incredibly talented female photographers.”
Kathy Swoboda won the 2019 Audubon Photography Awards contest with her photo of a red-winged blackbird singing in the frosty air from Huntley Meadows. “And then Rena Schild is a professional portrait photographer who got into wildlife photography,” said Gamble. “Elaine Starr is super into macro-photography of bugs and has incredible images. And Beth Howell’s work is lyrically beautiful. I pulled these women together and we created a really beautiful show.
“Whatever we can do to promote women in photography is wonderful. The big outcome from Patuxent is that now USFWS is reaching out to all of us as photographers and using our photos in their social media, which is pretty huge,” said Gamble, who also provides photos for the National Park Service. “I love that my stuff gets out there to promote good organizations.”
“Drinking Eagle” by Jane Gamble
“Jumping Spider” by Elaine Starr
Monarch on Flower – by Rena Schild
