BIO

JOAN LINN BEKINS is best known as a "belly botany" macro-photographer, shooting flowers on location with a minimal amount of equipment. Natural light defines her photographic style that creates enticing imagery directly from nature.

The artist invites us to look closer into the heart of a flower and discover its essence. She says "To observe, study and photograph flowers closely on bent knees or on one’s belly, is to feel humble in the face of wondrous perfection." Her visual expression of floral beauty, through contour, shape and color take form in realism and abstraction, a blend of sensuality and spirituality. Bekins’ flower images emphasize their sculptural qualities in a Georgia O’Keeffe style.

All her prints are pure, unmanipulated color photographs.

Her professional work as a photographer began nearly 50 years ago during her public relations career in agriculture - - for the beef and iceberg lettuce industries. As a Red Cross photo-journalist, she brought human interest stories to the public eye. She found color a challenging transition from black and white photography.

Bekins’ photographs are the expression of her passion and commitment to the natural world. She is an advocate of open space and nature education for children, and founded the Terwilliger Nature Guides in 1970 and the non-profit Elizabeth Terwilliger Nature Education Center in 1975. A portion of proceeds from her photographic sales help fund programs that benefit elementary schools throughout the country.

She lives in northern California, but travels extensively while expanding her regional photographic collections.