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Artist: Norma Longo
Photographer Norma Longo, a landscape and nature lover, is a Duke graduate who currently works as a Research Technician assisting Dr. Orrin Pilkey, Professor Emeritus of Geology, with his variety of projects. She has co-authored books and articles with him and many of her photographs of various beaches around the world, including those that are affected by human intervention and are environmentally challenged, are published in several of his books, and in Beach of the Month features at coastalcare.org. Her nature photography has been exhibited in the Nature Art Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh; in a group exhibition, “Global Perspectives—Faces of the Earth: Landforms, Seascapes and Ecosystems," presented by the Friends of Carrboro Branch Library and the Orange County Arts Commission; and the Nicholas School of the Environment has several of her landscapes on continuous display in the Levine Science Research Center.
Norma’s interest in and respect for nature probably came from growing up on a farm and extended into world travels. She looks for beauty and shapes in the landscape, particularly in geologic landforms, but also in clouds and other pretty things. A native of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, as a youngster she watched her brother work in his darkroom and was fascinated by seeing images appear on paper doused in a pan of liquid. She started using her Mother's Kodak Brownie box camera, then eventually progressed through the "instant" cameras to “real” cameras with various lenses, and finally to digital cameras, but she typically relies on a basic "point-and-shoot" camera. She has found that sometimes, just looking around or turning around and snapping photos on the fly, she gets some interesting images. That happened in Antarctica when she spotted the blue iceberg she calls "Iceberg Splash." It was an instant in time, as the Zodiac she was riding in quickly went past icebergs. Catching the "Ship-berg," the iceberg that looks like a ship floating toward the photographer could not have been planned – another instant that could have been missed. Images from around the world are wonderful, but Norma feels that you don't have to travel far to see and absorb nature's beauty. Capturing that beauty can be an enjoyable adventure wherever you are.