Features

Workhouse’s award-winning photo taken on the Ganges River

LORTON — The Workhouse Arts Center’s favorite photo of the month was taken on the Ganges River in India.

Each month the arts center in Lorton has a People’s Choice Award, and this month’s goes to Rick Reda’s photograph “Rider at Sunrise.”

This moody image is on view in Rick’s current exhibit of travel photography, “Mystical India,” through May 5. Rick is this month’s Featured Artist at Arches Gallery.

“Rider at Sunrise”, was taken on the eastern shore of the Ganges River in Varanasi, India at sunrise. Varanasi is a city of religious significance to the people of India, and the site of ongoing cremation ceremonies, which is part of the reason for the hazy morning sky, according to a Workhouse press release. In spite of this, many people are present at sunrise to greet the day.

Reda specializes in landscape and wildlife photography and has traveled the world from Alaska to Antarctica to Africa. He started out over 40 years ago with a makeshift darkroom set up in the bathroom his apartment in Detroit, developing and producing color prints.

Within a few years, his photographs were on display in the Trimpe Gallery in Detroit. Over the years he has transitioned from film to digital photography and currently exhibits his work at the Arches Gallery and the Loft Gallery, in Occoquan.

His work is in several private collections across the U.S. and Europe. His work will be featured in the Arches Gallery on the campus of the Workhouse Arts Center until May 5 to see “Mystical India,” and the work of 21 other Workhouse artists in the monthly group show.

The Workhouse Arts Center is located at 9518 Workhouse Way in Lorton.