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Woodbury photographer H. Veronika Gaia focuses on the personal perception and spiritual lessons of the natural world in "Nature's Peace," showing in the Radio Room through May 14.
Gaia's exhibition titled "Nature's Peace" draws from more than three decades' experience as a self-taught photographer and keen observer of nature to offer a testament to "lessons learned and a celebration of life and hope," she said.
"The experience of a lens-eye view through the camera has taught me a way to process life," said Gaia, a 36-year veteran educator who teaches in the Monroe school system. "When I was developing photographic composition, I would ask the question, 'What am I choosing to focus on?' When I looked away from the camera and asked the same question, I found a tool for self-awareness, a catalyst for personal change, and a way to balance my life.
"Nature, in its magnificence and majesty, became the teacher," she explained. ""I became the student, and was always aware that I was observing nature's hidden curriculum. This curriculum is all around us and evokes our innate nature of goodness to see beauty, to accept its teachable moments to develop our character, and to earn our esteem for its organization and diversity."
Her show at Good News Cafe evokes scenes of striking natural beauty, serenity and awe, photographed over the course of her many hikes at locations such as Glacier National Park, in Montana; the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert and Canyon de Chelly, in Arizona; the Rocky Mountains and San Juan Mountains, in Colorado; Death Valley, in California; Katmai National Preserve, in Alaska; as well as sites along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
Gaia has acquired her photographic skills as an avocation which she has ardently pursued throughout her professional career as a teacher. She has studied at the Doscher School of Photography in Vermont and in private lessons with several professional photographers. Exhibitions of her photography have previously appeared at the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby, the Saintoge gallery in Missoula, Mont., and the Monroe Public Library.
"I believe that photography reflects perception," she observed. "The created images are intuitive responses to observed moments in life. The elements of the canvas are light and shadow, which guarantee constant change and opportunities missed or captured. Photographers are always chasing the light, yet the photographic vision and process can also be a metaphor for life."
Gaia's Web site, www.PeacemakersArt.com, provides a sampling of her photographic portfolio and related products featuring her photography.
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