For Heather Bonadio, it all started with a Christmas gift — a Canon 5D Mark II camera — from her husband, Tom Bonadio, in 2010.
“I just started photographing everything in sight,” said the Pittsford resident.
And she didn’t stop.
“I really just started teaching myself (photography) with online tutorials and just shooting,” she said. “That’s how you do it.”
Bonadio recently held her first exhibition, “A Year in my Garden,” at Lumiere Photo’s Spectrum Gallery in Rochester.
She specializes in macro photography — or close-up photography — and her inspiration comes largely from nature, specifically, her own garden.
“It is unusual that a photographer so relatively new to the medium can bring both technical abilities, as well as the emotional content of these photographs,” said Spectrum Gallery Director William Edwards. “It has been inspiring to see the passion she brings to every image she creates. Perfection is a word she knows well.”
Here, Bonadio discusses her passion for nature and photography, and how she has joined the two together.
How did you become interested in gardening?
“I’m just drawn to nature,” said Bonadio. “I think it’s fascinating — and it’s there. ... I love being outdoors and watching things grow. And nurturing — it’s very nurturing to garden. My grandmother gardened as well.”
Bonadio began gardening after she retired in 1998 as vice president and general manager of WUHF, TV Fox 31. She does a good deal of the gardening at her home on Country Club Drive in Pittsford.
“I just decided when I was 50 that it was time to play,” she said, about pursuing her interest.
What is the desired effect with your gardening?
“I have mostly shade gardening,” she said. “I love texture and shapes. To me, gardening is art — movable, living art.”
What made you want to pursue photography?
“I was just driven to get better. Some of the first images were very disappointing. The more I took, the more I started to see promise in some.”
What drew you to macro photography?
“I just kept going back to macro,” she said, adding that there are tiny details in nature that she doesn’t discover until she shoots a photo and studies it close-up on her computer screen. “ ... That you can see something and say, ‘I didn’t know Bradford pear trees have pink stamens.’ You just see the wonder in nature up close. ... It’s an almost childlike wonder for me.”
For Heather Bonadio, it all started with a Christmas gift — a Canon 5D Mark II camera — from her husband, Tom Bonadio, in 2010.
“I just started photographing everything in sight,” said the Pittsford resident.
And she didn’t stop.
“I really just started teaching myself (photography) with online tutorials and just shooting,” she said. “That’s how you do it.”
Bonadio recently held her first exhibition, “A Year in my Garden,” at Lumiere Photo’s Spectrum Gallery in Rochester.
She specializes in macro photography — or close-up photography — and her inspiration comes largely from nature, specifically, her own garden.
“It is unusual that a photographer so relatively new to the medium can bring both technical abilities, as well as the emotional content of these photographs,” said Spectrum Gallery Director William Edwards. “It has been inspiring to see the passion she brings to every image she creates. Perfection is a word she knows well.”
Here, Bonadio discusses her passion for nature and photography, and how she has joined the two together.
How did you become interested in gardening?
“I’m just drawn to nature,” said Bonadio. “I think it’s fascinating — and it’s there. ... I love being outdoors and watching things grow. And nurturing — it’s very nurturing to garden. My grandmother gardened as well.”
Bonadio began gardening after she retired in 1998 as vice president and general manager of WUHF, TV Fox 31. She does a good deal of the gardening at her home on Country Club Drive in Pittsford.
“I just decided when I was 50 that it was time to play,” she said, about pursuing her interest.
What is the desired effect with your gardening?
“I have mostly shade gardening,” she said. “I love texture and shapes. To me, gardening is art — movable, living art.”
What made you want to pursue photography?
“I was just driven to get better. Some of the first images were very disappointing. The more I took, the more I started to see promise in some.”
What drew you to macro photography?
“I just kept going back to macro,” she said, adding that there are tiny details in nature that she doesn’t discover until she shoots a photo and studies it close-up on her computer screen. “ ... That you can see something and say, ‘I didn’t know Bradford pear trees have pink stamens.’ You just see the wonder in nature up close. ... It’s an almost childlike wonder for me.”
What type of response do you want viewers to have from your photographs?
“I think images need to tell a story. I want my images to evoke emotion and wonder in the details.”
Tell me about your first exhibit, “A Year in my Garden.”
“It was just thrilling for me, to just share my vision of my flowers and my garden,” she said.
All the photos in the exhibit were taken within the past year, and most were taken in Bonadio’s garden. Others were taken at the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. Included were both black-and-white and color photographs.
You’ve completed your first exhibition. What’s next?
Bonadio said she is going to be turning part of her garage into a studio, and she wants to focus on mastering lighting techniques.
“It’s all about the natural light and the back light,” she said. “You can take a great photo, but without light ... it’s not something someone is going to want to spend a lot of time looking at.”
She added. “I’d like to go to another dimension, maybe abstract photos, to push the envelope a bit.”
