Hi guys . . . so this is kind of an exciting thing for me: I was in the St. Petersburg Times on New Year’s Day in an article called “Creative people to watch . . .”  The article focused on several different people throughout the Tampa Bay Area who are doing a variety of creative things.  I feel honored to be among such interesting individuals and really excited that my photography is being noticed.  If you didn’t read this blog, I would not have been chosen for the story . . . so thank you!  I put a photo below that is a little closer because you can probably make out the caption better.  The article is also on-line here with everyone’s little blurps.  I‘ll paste mine below.

Janie Koike, the passionate photographer

CARROLLWOOD — As a student at Plant High School, Janie Koike loved to take pictures of her friends. At the prom. On camping trips. Movie night at her place. She has armloads of scrap books to prove it.

“I’ve always loved capturing those moments,” said Koike, now 26.

In the years since, Koike has taken that love and developed it into a business with a focus on nature and the simpler things in life.

“Like a tree bark,” she said. “If you look at that it’s not very interesting, but if you take a picture, it just comes to life.”

While she does photograph weddings and other special occasions, Koike’s online blog is filled with candid pictures from a variety of natural settings. She often pairs the pictures with prose and music.

In an entry titled “How He Loves Us,” Koike features pictures of swaying plants and trees. David Crowder’s song of the same title plays in the background.

She recently snapped pictures of gentle waves rolling up on the sand at Long Boat Key. The grandmother of her husband, Kenzo Koike, had just died, and she wanted to reflect the mood.

“They were peaceful,” said Koike, who works full time as a volunteer coordinator for the Red Cross Tampa Bay.

She uses emotion and color to create her own style. In a blog post about hope, she pairs vibrant pictures of purple, orange and pink flowers with lyrics to Christian singer Brandon Heath’s songWait and See.

“It’s a passion coming to life,” she said, “and it’s so fun.”

Nicole Hutcheson, Times staff writer

Photo by Edmund D. Fountain of the St. Pete Times