Press Release

Venice, CA – On Saturday, August 15, 2009, at 10:00 am, the G2 Gallery will host H₂O Kids, a presentation given by renowned underwater photographer Michele Westmorland. For this very special daytime event, Ms. Westmorland will discuss the intricacies of underwater photography while giving an introduction to marine life and marine conservation through images from her book, Ocean Duets. The talk will be youth-oriented, intended to inspire a budding generation of conservation-minded individuals.

Michele Westmorland’s talk will be presented in conjunction with the G2 Gallery’s exhibition H₂O. Ms. Westmorland’s photography is featured in the exhibit along with three additional environmental photographers, also working in water related environments. 100% of proceeds from H₂O will benefit environmental charities including Heal the Bay, International League of Conservation Photographers, and Friends of Ballona Wetlands.

Other exhibition-related events will include an Abbot Kinney First Friday Celebration on September 4, and a September 10 lecture on Junk Ride 2009, a 2,000-mile bicycle tour that spread awareness of “plastic soup” (miles of trash in the ocean) presented by Dr. Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins of Algalita Marine Research Foundation. All G2 Gallery events are free and open to the public. The exhibition will run through September 20, 2009.

About Michele Westmorland
Long-time Seattle resident Michele Westmorland spent the first 22 years of her professional life working in the corporate world. Today, she travels the world hunting exotic locales as a well respected outdoor photographer, specializing in underwater shots. Her work has appeared in many national and international publications including, National Geographic Traveler and National Geographic Adventure magazines. Michele is a Fellow with The Explorers Club and the International League of Conservation Photographers, a non-profit organization that brings together the world’s top nature photographers in the spirit of conserving the biodiversity of Earth’s ecosystem.

About H₂O
Covering the majority of the Earth’s surface area and comprising 55-78% of the human body, water is the essence of life. Given the abundance and irrefutable necessity of those three atoms (two hydrogen, one oxygen,) H₂O is vulnerable to many threats that endanger not just the quality of water itself, but the multitudes of species that are sustained by it, including humans, who are susceptible to water shortages around the globe. Locally, water rationing has been government mandated. H₂O examines the state of water at this critical juncture, exhibiting the work of photographers who present water in its most prevalent liquid state.