Ricki Shtossel - Nature Photography Photography is the medium through which I tell my story, and mine may be a shared story with anyone who dares to delve deeply into what lies beyond external beauty.

I was a therapist for many years, and I am grateful for having had the privilege to join my clients on a journey into their souls. They allowed me to draw close to their pain, linger with them in murky or ugly places, and see – at times on their behalf – a glimmer of light breaking through the darkness; a breath in the midst of suffocation, a moment of warmth in bitter cold.

I have now chosen a different path; discovering within myself a new way of seeing. The photographs I take tell stories of complexity. They speak of contrasts and contradictions, relate the power of healing, and reveal the beauty in nature. They tell the story of the human condition through the blurred silhouette of a flower, colliding clouds, rifts in the sand, and an ocean whose waves roll, break, and crash into itself. An entire world can be created in the space that exists between my eyes, the camera’s lens, and one’s perception.