Topic: Florida Native Orchids

Speaker: Prem Subrahmanyam

Prem is a true Florida native, having been born and raised in the Tallahassee, Florida area, before moving to Orlando with his family in 2005. He’s been studying Florida’s native orchids for more than 30 years and is renowned for his presentations at native plant and orchid societies across the state.

He makes his living as a software engineer and is also a graphic designer and 3d computer animator. His free time is spent photographing native orchids, growing his own collection of (legally purchased) orchids, developing his orchid-related websites, and collecting fossils or geocaching.

Prem is an award-winning photographer and his works have appeared in various magazine publications, textbooks, educational displays, orchid society newsletters, and brochures. In October 2009, his article on Epidendrum magnoliae was published in Orchids – the Bulletin of the American Orchid Society. His photos were also used in the Illustrated Dictionary of Orchid Genera, Jay Pfahl’s Orchidspecies.com website as well as in PBS website content for their Nova series.

Prem will dazzle and inspire us with his beautiful photographs and hopefully share a few of his discoveries, although the exact locations usually remain a deep secret. Some of his earliest finds were located less than 15 minutes from his home. If we’re fortunate, Prem will bring some of his photographs and other orchid-related items for sale.