For those who don't know me - I am Nina Sowiski, a Pittsburgh native, and although I have lived for years in other parts of the country, I am once again living in Forest Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh. I am from a family of artists; sculptor, painter, paper and print maker. None of these was to be my medium; instead I turned to photography. I am self-taught for the most part although during the past year I have studied at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside.
nina

I have been taking photographs for the past 50 years, beginning with a Brownie Camera in the 1950s, and since retiring in 2008, have been concentrating on working with, showing, and selling my work. My first public showing was at a fundraiser for the Edgewood Foundation in November, 2008, in Edgewood, Pa. Since then I have exhibited at several local venues and recently had a one-woman show at the Bottlebrush Gallery in Harmony, Pa. I currently have photographs displayed at several locations in the area although my primary “gallery” is my home. I recently was awarded 2nd place in photography at the Franklin County Art Alliance Exhibit in central Pennsylvania for my photograph “Calla Lilies.”.
The majority of my photos are of the natural world, from distant landscapes to macro shots. I enjoy viewing the familiar in unfamiliar ways, seeing often overlooked patterns in natural or man-made objects, and taking advantage of unusual plays of light on objects. Beauty is seen in vegetables and flowers past their prime, old buildings, dead trees. In my photos water has many forms - as rain, snow, ice and dew, and many roles - as mirror, magnifier, obscurer and distorter. I am an avid gardener and I often photograph vegetables and flowers in my backyard garden in Forest Hills as well as at my family's farm in Mercersburg, Pa. I also photograph extensively when traveling, and have shots from Paris, Virginia, New Mexico, Delaware, Florida and Kentucky among the photographs in my portfolio. egrt