Stunning Nature Photography by Catherine “Kitsy” Stratton

Catherine “Kitsy” Stratton was born in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Born Catherine Anne Cartwright Stratton, she is the third daughter of the well-known Mount Pleasant artists, Catherine “Taffy” Stratton and Weston “Nick” Stratton.

While Kitsy’s two older sisters earned art degrees and taught art, Kitsy decided to take a much different path.

She studied science and earned a Bachelor degree in Physics. In 1981, Kitsy moved to Asheville to begin her 22-year career at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) where she worked as an as a Physical Scientist in was then called the National Climatic Data Center.

In 1990, Kitsy took a deep interest in photography when she began taking pictures of her young daughter and infant son.

While on a trip to Charleston, SC for training in 1993, she came across a calendar of scenic photos by popular nature photographer Tom Blagden.

After reading the back of the calendar she learned what type of camera, lenses, and film Blagden used.

During spring break that year, she arranged to have her kids stay with their grandparents, bought two rolls of slide film and headed out into the wilds of the low country to take her first nature photographs.

These prints are made from updated scans of those early slides. Please watch this slideshow of Kitsy work for yourself.