The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Powell Valley, Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee © Byron Jorjorian

"Byron Jorjorian isolates, selects and captures a vision of the world."

Parthenon curator Susan Shockley

This popular exhibit's run has now been extended to September 10. Don't miss it! Read what The Tennessean's Miss Cheap has to say about Byron Jorjorian's exhibit.

Photographer Byron Jorjorian has been focusing on nature since he was a boy growing up in the woods around Meridian, Mississippi. Back then, he happily caught fish, turtles, lizards, frogs and snakes, and kept them as pets. Today he continues to capture all manner of things — only now he does it in pictures with a camera.

Now recognized as one of America's premier nature photographers, Jorjorian has been a longtime supporter and friend of The Nature Conservancy. Since 1990, Jorjorian has been donating his time and photography to The Nature Conservancy's cause, particularly in Tennessee where he resides. Many of his most arresting photographs, whether close-ups of delicate coneflowers or panoramic vistas of foggy mountaintops, were taken on lands acquired and protected by The Nature Conservancy.

Missing Nature is the title of his newest photography exhibition, on display at The Parthenon in Nashville from March 26 to September 10, 2011, and showcasing photographs taken on Nature Conservancy-protected lands. The exhibition's title is meant to be a play on words that describes both Jorjorian's work in general and this particular collection of photographs, all taken in Tennessee. On one hand, Jorjorian frequently sees the minute details of nature that many of us miss in passing by. On the other hand, he is documenting the creatures and special places that all of us would miss if The Nature Conservancy had not protected them.

As Parthenon curator Susan Shockley puts it: "Jorjorian hikes to these habitats where he photographs both the wildlife and the land. But Jorjorian creates much more than a simple record of a rural hike. His eye notices the yellow leaf just fallen from the tree, the spider's web drenched in dew, or the swirl that water creates around a rock. He isolates, selects and captures a vision of the world. His photographs generate a new habitat for his subjects, and he enables his viewers to see moments we might otherwise miss."

The Parthenon is open Tuesday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults; $4 for seniors 62 and over, and $4 for children 4-17. Children under 4 are admitted free.

Read an article in The Tennessean about Byron Jorjorian's exhibit.

For more on Byron Jorjorian, visit  www.byronjorjorian.com.

For more on The Parthenon, visit www.parthenon.org.