SOUTH HAMMOND -- Penny Heath Kring’s photographic exhibit “Save this Extraordinary Earth for All Our Children” opens July 5 at 4:30 p.m. at the Iva Smith Gallery of Fine Art.

Gallery owner Evelyn Saphier describes the photos as evidencing “a love of nature, a passion for children, and a sense of the need to look to the future of our fragile planet Earth.”

Kring says she became interested in nature photography over 15 years ago during a walk with her father on Cottage Hill Road in Redwood.

As her interest deepened, a mentor projected that Penny would find herself taking images of winged things.

The following morning, she says, she found a wounded moth, put it in her coffee cup, and took it into her photography studio.

She says that the (eventually award-winning) dramatic moth-in-flight image that resulted came to represent a transformation in the way she sees things at every level--physical, mental, and spiritual --on a daily basis.

She adds that she has found her nature photography evolving in an “organic give- and -take relationship” ever since.

“Her artistic openness and nature itself intertwine to create images of light and beauty,” Saphier writes in her gallery notes for the opening. “In these images … viewers will find a sense of myth, magic, mystery, and reverence for all that is sacred in the created world.

“Penny finds that images come to her as she opens her senses, mind, and heart to the beauty of the world that surrounds us.”

Penny is founder and owner of Heath Photography, 43395 Route 37 (Main St.).

Evelyn and her late husband, artist R. Paul Saphier, opened The Iva Smith Gallery of Fine Art during the 1990s.

The gallery, located at 627 State Highway 37, South Hammond, has recently expanded to include a gift shop, and will house a café this summer.

For information about the opening or the gallery, call 718-753-7947.