WHIDDEN’S MARINA 2 © 2019

Boca Grande, Gasparilla Island

Photographic Story When our family first visited Florida in 1978, Whidden’s Marina on Gasparilla Island was one of the marinas we stopped at as we sailed the coast of Florida. We learned that Sam Whidden had built this marina in the early days of the island, and it has been run by the Whidden family ever since. I immediately fell in love with the old building and the comfortable feeling of the folks who ran the marina, so after we moved to Florida, Whidden’s was one of the first places I wanted to visit and photograph. When I returned, I found it was still the comfortable old place I remembered, but the island had grown in population and sophistication. There were still fun, quirky pieces of the Old Florida I appreciated and loved; you just had to look a little harder to find them! The Art of Hand Painting Black and White Photographs Photographed with a Sony digital camera and instead of oil painting with Q-tips and cotton balls, Niki was able to paint using Photoshop. Changing from the old-fashioned way of doing her art, to the new ‘fashion’ of using technology was challenging, but she’s enjoying getting back to her own personal expression. Archival Print Making Niki’s open edition gicleé artwork is printed on Sunset Bright Velvet Rag matte finish paper using eight archival inks. A state-of-the-art Epson Stylus Pro printer creates deep, rich dark values that hold subtle detail in the shadows as well as bright vivid colors that are truly tropical.