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Baltimore Woods Nature Center in Marcellus is holding a virtual exhibit featuring photographs from members of the Syracuse Camera Club.

The virtual exhibit, titled “Autumn: A Visual Feast of Images,” opened Sept. 12 and will be open for viewing until Oct. 30 on the nature center’s website. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the nature center planned to hold the exhibit in person.

The exhibit features work from 19 members of the Syracuse Camera Club that were taken last fall and are centered around the theme of autumn in the Syracuse area.

The nature center aims to find ways for people to connect to nature and appreciate it, said Karen Jean Smith, the art gallery coordinator at Baltimore Woods.

“We look for all different ways to connect people to nature, so having an art exhibit is just another way of doing that,” Smith said. “Also, people like to come and see it. They like to appreciate what people are doing.”

The exhibit came together because Smith knows some members of the Syracuse Camera Club. Courtesy of Nancy Kieffer

The exhibit is about the different aspects of autumn and how people interact with the season, Smith said. Smith put together the virtual video exhibit so people could still experience the exhibit without attending in person.

Bob Gates, a member and former president of the Syracuse Camera Club, has two of his photographs featured in the virtual exhibit. He took both photos at Green Lakes State Park in Manlius, which is one of his favorite locations to photograph.

The current president of the Syracuse Camera Club, Buddy Belonsoff, said the camera club secured the spot in the gallery last year to share members’ photos. The exhibit’s virtual format is working in the Syracuse Camera Club’s favor because the club is getting more exposure this way, Belonsoff said.

“This is working much better because people get to see our work, and a lot of people don’t get over to the gallery as much as they would (like to),” Belonsoff said.

People can purchase any of the photographs in the exhibit, and proceeds from sales support the mission of the Baltimore Woods Nature Center.

The exhibit came together because Smith knows some members of the Syracuse Camera Club. She thought it would be interesting to have an exhibit that features the works of a group of people instead of the work of just one or two people.

She hopes people will see and enjoy the gallery and become more aware of the Syracuse Camera Club, as well as the Baltimore Woods Nature Center and its art gallery.

Gates hopes viewers of the exhibit can get a better sense of the beautiful places in the Syracuse area that they can visit this fall.

“They might get a better idea of places they can go in the fall and places they can visit and get a sense of, you know, wonderful places to see around here,” Gates said.

Published on September 20, 2020 at 11:08 pm

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