Wildflower Conservation Photographers Honored With Ansel Adams Award

    SAUSALITO, CA, August 21, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Rob Badger and Nita Winter are conservation photographers passionate about photographing and protecting wildflowers on America's public lands. They use art to inspire hope and action with regard to climate change, land conservation, and species extinction. The Sierra Club will be honoring Rob and Nita with their prestigious Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography this fall.

"We have been life partners and creative collaborators for over three decades," says Nita. "In 1992, we discovered and fell in love with California's spectacular wildflower blooms in the Mojave Desert's Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. This experience inspired us to begin our 27-year journey photographing wildflowers throughout the West."

The Sierra Club recently announced that the couple are being honored with the 2020 Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography — the latest in several awards Rob and Nita have received in response to their "Beauty and the Beast" photography book (co-published by WinterBadger Press and the California Native Plant Society), and in recognition of Rob's 40 years of conservation photography.

Nonprofit organization Exhibit Envoy is hosting their traveling educational exhibit of the photographs featured in "Beauty and the Beast." The show has been seen by more than 45,000 people so far, and the San Diego Natural History Museum is creating a large-print version of the exhibit.

About Rob: Rob Badger is an international award-winning conservation photographer who is passionate about photographing and protecting wildflowers on America's public lands. He and his life and photography partner Nita Winter use art to inspire hope and action with regard to climate change, land conservation, and species extinction. The couple was honored with the Sierra Club's 2020 Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography. Their book and accompanying traveling educational exhibit are called "Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change."

Rob has a long history of conservation work, including more than 30 different projects for the Trust for Public Land. As a child, he dreamed of being involved in space exploration, so he started off his formal education studying aerospace engineering at Northrop Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, leaving after two years to focus on photography.

Rob earned his Associate of Arts degree in photography from El Camino College. He continues to have a strong interest in geology, meteorology, and the natural sciences. An avid music fan, Rob had the privilege of seeing The Doors perform live 11 times. He also loves to cook.

Rob is a member of Blue Earth Alliance, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, California Native Plant Society, National Wildlife Federation, Marin Open Studios, Environmental Forum of Marin, Marin Conservation League, and North American Nature Photography Association.

Learn more at www.wildflowerbook.com.

About Nita: Nita Winter is a conservation photographer who is passionate about photographing and protecting wildflowers on America's public lands. She and her life and photography partner Rob Badger use art to inspire hope and action with regard to climate change, land conservation, and species extinction. The couple was honored with the Sierra Club's 2020 Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography. Their book and accompanying traveling educational exhibit are called "Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change."

Nita grew up in a peace and social justice household on Long Island, NY, attending civil rights, anti-nuclear, and anti-war demonstrations throughout her youth. Her father loved taking photographs, and she was exposed to the work of many of the great early and mid 20th century photographers.

She was a seasonal firefighter for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (now Cal Fire) in 1977. She also used to lead tours of Alcatraz for the National Park Service. She was the first Booking Coordinator at the Women's Building of the Bay Area.

Nita became a people photographer who focused on celebrating human diversity through documentary and public art projects for the first 25 years of her career. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Clark University.

She is a member of Blue Earth Alliance, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, California Native Plant Society, National Wildlife Federation, Marin Open Studios, Environmental Forum of Marin, Marin Conservation League, and North American Nature Photography Association.

Learn more at www.wildflowerbook.com.

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