Local Photographer Finds Peace in Nature

Name: Kathy Lerche, 63, of Dunedin   

Hometown: Warwick, RI 

Keys to Awesomeness: Kathy Lerche is a nurse at . She has been sharing life's simple moments through her photography for the past nine years, after taking a class at . Her photos have been featured in the St. Petersburg Times, at the Dunedin Public Library and at Morton Plant Hospital. She has won several regional and countywide contests including one sponsored by Tampa Bay Magazine last fall.

How did you get started?

I started out with digital photography when I received a digital camera as a Christmas gift in 2003 and this started a new episode in my life. 

Where can people find your art?

My photography will be on exhibit at the Palm Harbor Library from September 28 through November 30, 2012 in the John Brock Art Alcove. I may also be participating in a showing at the Sterling Art Center in Dunedin in the near future. My website www.kathylerche.com will be available soon. My work can also be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/kathylerche and I can be reached at 727-244-5746. 

What keeps you doing it?

What keeps me doing my photography is the peace I find in my time with nature and the appreciation of the simple beauty that is part of our everyday world. It is so easy to race through our daily life and not really see all that God has created.  

What influences you?

I am influenced by the colors that surround us and being able to share this with others. 

Have any advice for people just starting out in your medium?

If you have a passion in life, follow that love and it will bring you joy. If photography is that passion than you will learn something from all you meet. Take classes — join photography groups and meet others with the same interest. Share your work for the good of others and you will be rewarded. Donate to charities and always have gifts for those whose day will be made brighter by the moments you have captured.