I am a Washington State native, and have had an interest in Photography and Art for as long as I can remember. I feel like it is in my blood. Indeed, in the early 1900's my grandparents had a darkroom in their home, and my "rebel" great aunt traveled the West coast to photograph landscapes & wildlife, learning from the great photographers of the original Group f/64 club.

Early on I borrowed my grandmother's large format camera before buying my first 35mm "real" camera in high school. This started a passion for black & white images and creating art in the darkroom, a place I could lose myself for hours. Later, a summer spent teaching darkroom while a photography TA at the University of Washington, and working part time as a portrait photographer only solidified the passion. That led to experimenting with color slide development, larger format B&W, and spending a even more time elbow deep in developer and fixer in the darkroom. Then, I hit pause and my focus shifted for several years, while raising a family and teaching elementary school, I willingly set my photography aside. But I never stopped looking for the images that are truly there but rarely "seen".

Fast forward to the present -- Photography is back in "focus" in my life.  After 35 years of teaching I retired recently, and now I have grandchildren, and participate in a variety of other things, but my passion for photo artistry is back in the forefront. My camera is always by my side, and my "darkroom" is now digital! My photos represent my effort to "look up, look down, look around, look through, and look closer in my attempt at "Finding the Beauty ... Hidden in Plain Sight".

Thank you for visiting my site. I am thrilled to share a little bit of the magic that I "see" in our  world. I welcome your comments and hope you will share my work with others and enjoy any pieces which make their way into your life.

Gretchen W. Shepherd