Richard Quinnell learned the basics of photography in high school, and has pursued it as a hobby for 45 years, with concentrations on landscapes, wildlife, travel and floral subjects.

Quinnell’s work will be exhibited at Gardiner Community Center’s Gallery of the Arts featured artist for April. 

“His photos have graced his home for years, but this will be his first public showing,” gallery exhibit coordinator Janet Johnson said.

Quinnell has been a Gardiner resident since 2007, when he came to Washington state from California to escape what he deemed “the rat race” of Silicon Valley. “I’d heard about a quieter way of life in the Rainshadow,” Quinnell said. “And fortunately, my career was transportable.”

Quinnell was an electronics designer who transitioned into electronics journalism because “I could actually understand the technology that I was writing about,” for whom photography was but one means of “admiring beauty,” which he does “in any of its forms.”

While cameras appeal to Quinnell’s affinity for technology, by “capturing and manipulating light,” he attributes the composition of his photographs to his underlying sense of vision.

“I could never create art with my hands otherwise, but I could envision it with my mind,” Quinnell said. “It lies in the interplay of light and color.”

Quinnell sees as much beauty in man-made structures as he does in nature’s vistas, but even in otherwise populated urban centers, he looks for those moments when they’re less crowded, and when they offer visuals that fewer people are present to appreciate.

Quinnell waited until night to photograph the Trevi Fountain in Rome, because that’s when the illumination of its waters comes up from below, giving those waters “more depth” to his eyes, just as he found St. Peter’s Square to be far more compelling when it only had a couple of people standing there.

“You’ve got to be quick to capture the action in moments of hustle and bustle,” Quinnell said. “The beauty of a quiet scene is easier to capture.”

Quinnell has never traveled specifically to take photos, but his business travels have afforded him opportunities to photograph from Shenzhen, China, in the East, to Munich, Germany and Barcelona, Spain, in the West, and from as far north as Iceland to as far south as New Zealand.

“I hope viewers will enjoy the wide variety of beauty I’ve tried to capture,” Quinnell said.

Johnson considers it a coup to recruit local artists for the Gardiner gallery, especially one whose portfolio is as diverse as Quinnell’s.

At the same time, since the Gardiner Community Center routinely serves residents from Quilcene to Diamond Point, Johnson noted that future artists to be exhibited could come from throughout their corner of the Olympic Peninsula, as far north as Port Townsend and as far west as Sequim proper.

“It’s amazing how many talented artists we have in this area, working in a wide range of media and styles,” Johnson said.

What to know

The Gallery of the Arts is located in the lower level meeting room of the Gardiner Community Center, at 980 Old Gardiner Road in Sequim, and is open to the public during the hours of its community events and activities.

The opening reception  will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, which Quinnell will attend.