NITA WINTER'S BIO
NITA WINTER grew up on Long Island, New York and enjoyed exploring the natural world around her. Her father's love of photography exposed her to the work of many of the great documentary photographers, such as Dorothea Lange and other WPA photographers. In 1976, after receiving a Bachelors Degree in Biology at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts she followed her family out west to California.
Nita began her photographic career documenting her work fighting wildfires in northern California and later as a National Park Ranger on Alcatraz. While working at the San Francisco Women's Building, she found a new passion: capturing the San Francisco Bay Area’s rich cultural diversity. In 1986, Nita had her first major exhibit, “The Children of the Tenderloin.” This documentary project launched her career and directed her focus toward creating healthy communities. The series received extensive media coverage and showed her first-hand the power of photographic storytelling. Over the next 17 years, she produced and created portraits for six major public art projects celebrating the Bay Area’s diverse communities. Each project took on a life of its own, and Nita quickly learned to keep an open mind and allow each project to develop and flourish. She cherished the stories she would hear about how the photographs positively affected both the participants and the general public.
The New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Village Voice, Sesame Street Magazine, Sierra Magazine and on all of San Francisco’s local TV stations have featured Nita's work.
After many years of working on individual assignments, Nita and Rob combined their talents to create The WinterBadger Collection. They have focused on creating healing art that enhances spaces and have received commissions from Sutter Health, Kaiser Permanente, San Francisco and Alameda County Art Commissions, Utah Arts Council and the Irvine Foundation.
Nita lives in Marin City, near Sausalito, California with photographer Rob Badger. In 1998, they began a collaborative project photographing wildflowers (and their environments) on public lands. This project brought Nita full circle back to her focus in college: biology/botany. Their magnificent and ever-growing series features over 400 different wildflowers. Their long-standing commitment to photograph wildflowers has evolved into a meaningful and inspiring documentary art project: Beauty and The Beast: Wildflowers and Climate Change, a Blue Earth Alliance Project. It's beautiful and thought-provoking educational traveling exhibit, "Beauty and The Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change" has been viewed by over 50,000 visitors to date. Nita and Rob completed its 264 page companion coffee table book in 2020. This beautifully illustrated volume features 190 photographs and 18 engaging short stories by a diverse and talented group of nature writers and scientists. Both the book and the exhibit focus on inspiring action and offer simple suggestions for climate and conservation action.
Their commitment, both professionally and personally, to the environment is demonstrated by their receipt in 2006 of a Green Business Certification by the County of Marin. Nita and Rob were the first photographers to receive this certification in Marin.
Nita welcomes assignments and commissions to create images for a client’s specific needs.
We invite you to call to discuss your art and photography needs. 415-717-5279.
