Victoria Restrepo is an accomplished photographer and artist with more than 30 years’ experience.  She specializes in fine art, nature and travel photography. Victoria was born in Colombia, South America, where she studied fine arts; later she studied photography at The New England School of Photography in Boston.  She has worked as a commercial photographer and as a photography and Photoshop teacher.  Victoria’s work has been exhibited in more than 36 galleries in Colombia, Maryland, and Washington DC.

Photography has always been part of Victoria’s life.  Her grandfather, her great-grandfather, and her great-great grandfather were some of the earliest photographers in South America and the Caribbean.  The smell of the photographic chemicals and the magical darkness of her family lab made a deep and lasting impression on her.

Victoria describes herself as a treasure hunter. She loves to spend hours finding the perfect frozen leaf or small shiny raindrops splashing on leaves.  She seeks beauty in a seamlessly cloudy sky, in the striking force of a storm, or in the smooth movement of a waterfall.  Her photographs are poised between reality and illusion as she strives to create the perfect balance between color and transparency, light and shadow, texture and delicacy.  And, as is the challenge of any photographer, she has a profound desire to attract and deceive the viewer.

In tonight’s presentation, Victoria will take us on a journey through the Andes Mountains. The Andes are the longest mountain range on the planet, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America, from the Patagonia to the Caribbean.  In Colombia, the gigantic mountains, the majestic rivers, and the tropical forest slide recklessly toward the ocean.  Through her artistic and photographic eye, she will discuss her creative process and show us the diversity of the flora and fauna and how it completely changes from one region to the next. The small wild flowers fuse with bromeliads, moss and ferns, hiding not only orchids and insects, but also the most wonderful birds and mammals. Our journey ends in the paramos, a unique and fragile ecosystem, with a great biodiversity and endemism, where the species that have adapted to it are not found anywhere else.  Many times, these treasures are invisible to us.  

To view Victoria’s artistry and travel journeys, please visit her website at: www.vrestrepo.com.