Serendipitous and ephemeral moments of beauty photographed in Edmonds, Lynnwood and other Pacific Northwest locations are currently on display at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York. 

Lynnwood-based writer and nature photographer Kevin Ebi is the focus of a one-person exhibition there, Kevin Ebi: Five Minutes in Nature, now through July 21. Featuring 33 large-scale images shot locally and across the globe, the exhibit underscores his profound appreciation for slowing down and tuning in to what unfolds in the natural world, rather than chasing down familiar vistas and scenes in national parks and remote countries.

“It’s really about looking for subtlety and appreciating the magic of that subtlety,” Ebi says of his approach to photography. “It’s about appreciating wherever you are – it doesn’t have to be an event like a special trip to Mount Rainier or a safari in Africa.” Case in point: the bewitching colors and textures of a madrone tree’s peeling bark, photographed in close-up on Vancouver Island. Or the split-second capture of a ruby-crowned kinglet zooming through golden leaves in his Lynnwood yard.

The photographer says that the COVID-19 pandemic reinforced his meditative perspective on image-making. “People spend all this time traveling the world, but during COVID I started spending all this time in my yard. I would sit outside for four or five hours at a time – it opened my eyes to all these opportunities that are around us all the time.” 

Ebi grew up in Puyallup and traces his affinity for the outdoors to the many outings his family took throughout the state while growing up. “Being out in nature is in my DNA and I’m very protective of these places. I want to make sure they continue to exist…and I hope my work inspires others to take up the cause.”

To read Ebi’s blog, or purchase his book or photos, check out his website.

— By Clare McLean