All of December in the Hollingsworth Gallery
Ann Rohlfing is a professional photographer whose images speak for themselves, and have their own stories to tell. She has carried a camera with her since childhood and her skills evolved first as a Smithsonian volunteer to a professional for the Department of Labor. She and her husband’s photography business flourished locally until his death.
Ann still carries a camera – usually into the woods – and titles her December exhibit “Land of the Fallen Giant” By this she is speaking of a 300-yearold Southern Red Oak that grew near Ridgely’s Adkins Arboretum on Maryland’s Eastern Shore until felled by a storm. She has observed and photographed its gradual change of form and function which she describes as almost “magical.” Her images of the oak’s deterioration capture “secondary” growth and development of its remains like a “family of mushrooms sprouting growths like a “like a sprinkling of yellow popcorn,” a cranefly on a branch spreading its wings to dry, a spider semi-concealed in a spring beauty awaiting a pollinator for lunch – a drama she describes as “beauty and the beast!”
Ann hopes her pictures communicate the “peace and joy” she finds in nature and hopes they inspire others to find the same beauty