Biography of Sunny K. Awazuhara-Reed

Sunny has been photographing since her early teenage years in Japan.  In her teens, she focused on show dogs as her main subjects.  However, for Sunny who grew up in the countryside, where many undeveloped areas still remain, nature was her playground. It was inevitable she would develop a strong love of nature and learn to express that passion for the beauty of natural landscapes and wildlife in her photography. She gained a sense of awareness for when nature shows her “magical moment,” perhaps in the form of the warm sunrise glow or a rare surreal mist

It was at the Japanese dog shows where Sunny held her first camera, her father’s Canon SLR. Using this manual focus film camera (the only option available at the time), Sunny expertly captured the winning pride of the show dogs. She enjoyed success taking portraits at shows in her hometown as well as in the big city of Tokyo. She published these photos in dog club journals, which she organized and edited, in addition to her own 2 self-published books. Many of the dogs’ owners used her quality photos in kennel advertisements for magazines and show catalogs.

After taking a break from photography, Sunny left for a nine-week camping trip across the North American wilderness. It was during this adventure she rediscovered her passion for photography and her love of the outdoors. As she visited dozens of National Parks, she was fascinated by their dramatic scenery and wildlife. She spent the summer of 2001 working in Denali National Park, Alaska, and the summer of 2003 in Yellowstone National Park. These experiences led her to enjoy nature photography while she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Upon graduation, Sunny moved to San Diego and continuously studied photography at San Diego City College. Meanwhile, photographic technology was moving to digital, and she began using digital equipment. Her recent images are shot in RAW format and processed with Adobe Photoshop.

Many of Sunny’s photographs were taken in the Sierra Nevada Mountains while she was camping and backpacking. She loves sharing with others the beautiful moment of nature as she has seen and felt. Recently, she has developed a passion to photograph bears in their natural environment and to record dramatic natural landscapes in Alaska. She would also like to explore the Pacific Northwest wilderness in the future. She hopes her photographs will help others appreciate and wish to conserve the remaining wilderness areas. (edited by April Simora)

Photo by Lynn Dao (top), Daniel Reed (right)