WASHINGTON -- An exhibition of 30 selenium-toned black-and-white photographs by Virginia native Hullihen Williams Moore opens on June 16, 2006 at the U.S. Department of the Interior Museum.

The show, entitled Shenandoah: Views of Our National Park, Photographs by Hullihen Williams Moore, captures nature's beauty and fragility at the park, managed by the Interior Department's National Park Service, and located just 75 miles from the U.S. Capitol.

Moore studied with Ansel Adams and that influence is evident in these carefully crafted black and white photographs. Moore also studied with noted landscape photographers John Sexton and Philip Hyde, honing his skills in fine print making with their guidance.

Moore's initial interest in photography began in high school, and he served as a stringer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a college student at Washington and Lee University. Later at the University of Virginia, he continued to make pictures as a hobby, often traveling into the mountains to photograph. His wife gave him his first view camera in the 1970s.

The exhibition's exquisite photographs convey, in addition to the natural history of the region, a personal history. They record Moore's visual and emotional relationship with the landscape. The photographer has returned to Shenandoah National Park again and again for more than 30 years, on journeys of discovery and of reconsideration. His evocative images include those of streams in spring and wintry forests. They document change-both growth and destruction: floods, harsh winters, barren summers, and years of plenty work together to keep the forest in a continual cycle of transformation. Moore's photographs present an ongoing biography of this very particular place.

The public is invited to a slide lecture presented by the photographer at the Interior Museum scheduled for Monday, June 19, 2006 at 1:00 p.m. Reservations are required and may be placed by telephoning 202/208-4743. Shenandoah: Views of Our National Park, is on loan from the Office of Statewide Partnerships of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The office organized the show with generous support from Philip Morris U.S.A and the Council of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA).

Eileen Mott, VMFA Coordinator of Statewide Exhibitions says of Moore's work, "With patience and the ability to perceive the most compelling viewpoint or angle, the richest light, the strongest shadow, Moore captures the significance of a place in a way that makes us look beyond the particular. He makes intelligible to us that which we already know, but have forgotten or overlooked."

The exhibition will remain on view through Sept. 8, 2006. The Department of the Interior Museum is open weekdays except holidays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the third Saturday of each month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Adult visitors must present a form of photo identification when entering the Main Interior Building at 1849 C Street, N.W., in Washington, D.C. For further information, please contact Debra A. Berke, Curator of Exhibitions at the Interior Museum at 202/208-1480.