Gerry Traucht, a Berkeley fine art photographer, is known for his portraits of people, dogs, his gelatin silver nudes of dancers, and his photographs of the mystical egrets—the national symbol of the Audubon Society—at the Berkeley Aquatic Park lagoon.

There are always two egrets monitoring the lagoon, Traucht says. From November on, their numbers swell, staying through spring and occasionally well into summer, enjoying their lagoon, shoreline, and wetlands—the mouths of rivers and streams that flow into bays and oceans. “In drawing back the veil, the egrets have drawn my camera’s attention to moments of near paradisiacal beauty at the Berkeley lagoon,” Traucht says. “The Greeks had it right—a pantheism of sorts. All things are everything, when you look closely.” 

"The stunning images and poetic interpretation are some of the best I have seen.  They compel a deep recognition of the life in these beautiful birds and a sense of the living water that surrounds us.

A deeply inspirational portrayal of these beautiful birds and the wetlands we share! "  

-John P. Kelly, PhD, Director, Conservation Science, Audubon Conservation Ranch, Cypress Grove Research Center