{"id":110902,"date":"2026-01-02T18:35:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=110902"},"modified":"2026-01-02T19:01:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:01:04","slug":"the-sound-of-wildflowers-photographers-audiobook-lets-visually-impaired-see-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/the-sound-of-wildflowers-photographers-audiobook-lets-visually-impaired-see-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"The sound of wildflowers: Photographers\u2019 audiobook lets visually impaired \u2018see\u2019 nature"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"Desert Candles in the Caliente Mountain Range, Carrizo Plain National Monument in California, in 2017 is one of the audio-described photos in “Voices for the Splendor of California Wildflowers: A Descriptive Journey for the Visually ImpairedShown here. The forthcoming work is the creation of Marin County nature photographers Rob Badger and Nita Winter, who wanted to create a descriptive coffee table audiobook. (Rob Badger and Nita Winter via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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by WOODY WEINGARTEN, Bay City News<\/strong><\/p>\n

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AWARD-WINNING CONSERVATION PHOTOGRAPHERS<\/strong> Rob Badger and Nita Winter lived together lovingly for \u201cone month short of 38 years\u201d before getting married under a huge oak tree in a friend\u2019s back yard in the hills of Mill Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to make sure it was going to work out,\u201d explains Winter mischievously.<\/p>\n

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The Mojave Desert\u2019s Poppy Preserve in 2003 on the cover of the coffee table wildflower illustration book \u201cBeauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change\u201d by Rob Badger and Nita Winter, co-published by the California Native Plant Society. (Rob Badger and Nita Winter via Bay City News)<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Badger and Winter had for three decades photographed flora in natural environments for their passion project, Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change<\/a>, a 2020 coffee-table book that includes 190 color shots captured by natural light.<\/p>\n

A companion exhibit of 52 framed photos, which preceded publication of the book and has been touring for seven years, has already been seen by 100,000 people.<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re wrapping up the components of an innovative spinoff, Voices for the Splendor of California Wildflowers: A Descriptive Journey for the Visually Impaired<\/a>, a labor-of-love audiobook that \u201cwill allow the visually impaired to see and connect with nature in their mind\u2019s eye,\u201d says Badger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that no one has published an audio-described, beautiful coffee-table book where people can feel what it was like to be invited into our world and feel what kind of day it was when the images were shot,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe poetically described photos can link directly with a listener\u2019s imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The project, which highlights essays by scientists, environmental leaders, and nature writers, was inspired by the desire of a legally blind friend to \u201csee\u201d the striking images.<\/p>\n