Smrrk Photography- Sharon Raoli
(American, b. 1978)

Born in Durban, South Africa and raised on her parents' tall tales of adventure throughout Africa and the bush, Sharon Raoli has always felt a connection with animals and a love of nature and simplicity. A naturalist was born as her family would often holiday at the African game reserves and Sharon would read every thing she could about the animals and their behavior.

When she was five years old, her family moved to Miami, Florida and although she would still visit South Africa often, her life was soon taken over by her career as a world ranked long distance swimmer. In college, she felt like a nomad, constantly traveling to a new city every weekend for swimming competitions and it was at this time that Sharon contracted an insatiable case of wanderlust. Although she would see little other than the hotel and the pool of the city she was in, she obsessed over National Geographic magazines and the gorgeous images of exotic and far away places and their wildlife.

Her fascination with behavior, specifically the nuances of movement and expression which convey much more than the obvious, drew Sharon into the field of psychology. She obtained a Masters from the University of Miami and currently is in private practice as a psychotherapist. After completing her education and heavily influenced by National Geographic, Hemingway, Tom Waits, and Kerouac, Sharon set out to experience the world.

A self-taught photographer, Sharon carries her camera everywhere. Prior to her first SLR, she would take pictures on whatever she could, including point-and-shoots, camera phones, Polaroid, 35mm film cameras, and instant cameras. Her motive was to try and capture the things she saw, the things most people see and sometimes don't see, from different angles- the way she saw them.

Photography serves as her vehicle of expressing the world through her