Michael Dee. Nature Inspired 

My current body of work documents the plant and animal life of Southern California. I have photographed at The Butterfly Farm, The Living Desert, Joshua Tree National Park, The Theodore Payne Foundation, Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, Hane's Canyon, Tucker Wildlife Preserve, and Deukmejian Wilderness Park just to mention a few. My return to realism has coincided with a desire to share the intense colors and bright whites of the desert flowers with a more urban and industrial Los Angeles. I continue to use digital photography, inverted images, giclee printing, acrylic painting, light boxes, and resin casting to produce works that reflect and glow with the life force of nature that does not always have a strong presence in metro areas. It is my hope that this work will inspire a dialogue about wildlife conservation, animal behavior, and intense color in Los Angeles.