Nature’s beauty is the source of my strength and inspiration. Growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, I learned to love the miracle of the nature that surrounded me.

In 1985, when I moved to Naples, Florida, I realized that the unique beauty here spoke to me in a way I had never before experienced. I developed a great passion to preserve my vision of the landscape and wildlife of God’s amazing creations through photography. And so my journey began.

I got married, started a family, and a few businesses along the way. Nevertheless, my camera was always close at hand. When I had the time, I went in search of secret places and uncommon perspectives. I found ways to incorporate my love of photography into my everyday life.

As I shared these images with friends and family, I often heard, “Why aren’t you sharing these with more people?” After a while, I thought, “Why aren’t I?”

Drawing on my own, personal inspiration and the loving support of my wife and family, I took a leap of faith and pursued my passion by opening a gallery. I devoted myself to photography.

Since then, I’ve learned what it means to work and grow within my true calling. Most of my work is focused on the Florida Everglades. The connection I feel for our land and its inhabitants is indescribable. It’s a spiritual expedition that includes the endless vistas populated by birds, alligators, snakes, diverse foliage, and so much more.

There is no better reward than searching for—and sometimes finding—that perfect moment and capturing it in a photograph. Sharing these images with others provides even greater inspiration as I share the stories I see unfolding right in front of me.

I hope that my photography helps people realize how important it is to observe and protect the natural world around us. I look forward to the stories of the Everglades continuing to be told for generations to come.

Hannah Rose Kandel’s mother had a very typical and happy pregnancy. At nine months of age, her parents started to see some warning signs of possible hearing loss or autism. Her father is a neurologist and her mother has her master’s degree in Special Education. Hannah had the BAER (Brain Auditory Evoke Response) test done at Naples Community Hospital. The test was negative, meaning that her hearing was fine. Hannah’s parents took her too many different doctors and she was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disability-Not Otherwise Specified). Hannah didn’t sleep very much, had stopped talking, and was unable to know where her body was in space. Her parents put together a multidisciplinary team; speech/language therapist, an occupational therapist, and a neuro psychologist. Intervention therapies were started immediately!

Hannah has had a very unusual educational journey. Her parents were always trying to find the right programs to challenge her in social, academic, and independent living skills. She was able to learn language using the PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) developed by Dr. Andy & Lori Bondy. Dr. Bondy came to her home and helped her family and therapists learn this mode of communication. Hannah was mainstreamed for preschool and kindergarten while also attending ESE (Exceptional Student Education) classes at Vineyards Elementary School.

Hannah started “talking” when she was around 5 years old. She had what her parents called “Hannahisms” – interesting ways of how she viewed the world. Such as, she called arm pits “tickle pits”. When she juiced oranges she called it “making the oranges dizzy”. And she loved to take the paper off all of her crayons because she wanted to have “naked crayons”.

After many years of special education, Hannah was mainstreamed full time at Seacrest Country Day School. She had an aide/shadow teacher with her in the classroom. The plan was to fade the support but she ended up needing the support the whole 7 years she attended SCDS.

Hannah has Seven big events that have happened in her life so far. The first one is her 2005 Bat Mitzvah. She studied for two full years so she could become an adult in the eyes of her Jewish Community.

The second event was her 8th Grade Graduation at Seacrest Country Day School. She planed to enrolled at Naples High School, but didn’t work out. So she went to Journey’s Academy for 6 months, but  it closed down in the summer of 2009. Later, she was working on the TABE and GED practice books, but it wasn’t the correct match for her so she took part in the American School, which is a high school program online to earn her high school diploma.

Born in New Jersey and a full time Naples, FL resident since 1994, Mary displayed artistic talent at a young age. She studied art at Montclair State College and attended various workshops throughout the years. Her artistic expressions include photography, layered photography, drawing, painting, and mixed media.

Favorite subjects are abstracts, flowers, cars, landscapes, still life, B&W, and quotes on photos.

She also combines photography with her interest in numerology and creates “Essence Portraits/Digital Frames”. A technique which layers a portrait photo that customer provides, with positive personality characteristics based on their numerology.

“My desire is to uplift and inspire”

Robin Joy is an artist born into a family of musicians and artists who ensured her life was full of art and culture from the beginning. She created fine art drawings as a child which continue to be the core of her work today. Having traveled in Europe from an early age on and then living in Asia, Robin was deeply moved by the miniature artwork collections in Taipei. This love of finely detailed minutiae continually influences her work. Robin’s art appears on fine art prints, both children’s books as well as children’s books for adults, dishes, furniture, wall fabric, silk fabrics and more.

In 2007, Robin opened her gallery/showroom in New York City’s West Village, all the while creating installations in other galleries and businesses throughout the city. Her graphics have been licensed on lighting fixtures and origami paper selling throughout the US.

September 2017, at the Musee de la Toile de Jouy, in the town of Jouy-en-Josas, next to Versailles, France, Robin had a solo exhibition for the entire month. The two Patrimone Days September 15th and 16th, she was at the Musee doing an interactive exhibit with visitors to the Museum. See blog for article that was written for the Toile de Jouy Foundation Website.

Currently, her new gallery “beJOYed” by Robin Joy in downtown Naples, Florida showcases her large wall art as well as the beJOYed line of products highlighting her designs on leggings, t-shirts, scarves, children books, note cards and dishes.

Growing up in New York City I always liked to draw, but with no formal art education, I went to work on Wall Street and then for an advertising agency before moving to Naples in 1987 to pursue yet another career, real estate.

At my open houses, I would sit in the front yard and sketch and then give the artwork to the owner when I sold the house. Soon, other realtors and home owners commissioned me to draw their homes.

With a growing portfolio of local scenes, I created my first Naples Calendar in 1998 and it quickly became a best seller at fine stores throughout Naples. In 2002, I added a Restaurant Guide and a list of year-round activities from parades to art shows and festivals.

When it was too hot and humid to sketch outside, I took pictures of scenes I wanted to paint which led me to offering my photos in large format wrapped-canvas pieces which now adorn many homes and offices throughout Naples.

You never know where life will take you . . .