Photographer and Roselle Park resident Michael Rennie Peterson has a solo exhibit titled “Splendors Of The Animal Kingdom” at The Gallery through March 11th.
Originally from Minnesota, Michael left Minneapolis shortly after graduating high school half a century ago in 1966. He took up photography as his travels brought him to more countries and his interest in recording these experiences increased. Reflecting on his life’s journey, he said, “I have been lucky enough to have traveled to all 50 states and over 50 countries in my life and have lived in five other countries. Antarctica is the only continent I have not seen and my goal is to go there within the next two years.”
Michael’s passion is photographing wildlife, especially whales. He shared, “Whales are difficult to photograph and it has taken me over 25 years to develop the technique and to learn to their behavior. They are difficult to photograph as they spend 95% of their time below the surface and one must anticipate when they will ‘breach’ the surface.”
The 12 photographs in this exhibit depict a variety of wildlife. The time captures range from close-ups of a lion to a whale breaching to a charming shot of a mother elephant’s closeness to her young offspring. Many of the photographs in the exhibit are from a Safari he took in July of 2014.
Michael was honored to have two photographs published in Cape Air’s summer edition of their in flight magazine with his shot of a humpback whale breaching off Cape Cod graced the cover. An upcoming edition of “African Safari Journal and Field Guide” will have his Safari photograph of two lions in a tree grace its cover later this year.
Michael has used Nikon cameras and lenses for nearly three decades and currently uses a D300 and D800. All of the photographs in this exhibit were taken with those cameras. Anyone interested in more information can contact Mr. Peterson at michaelrenniephotography@gmail.com.
The Gallery is located in the Casano Community Center at 314 Chestnut Street. Hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday till 5 p.m.
