BELFAST — View the wild faces and places of the proposed 3.2 million-acre Maine Woods National Park through a fine-art photography exhibit that will premier July 1 and be on display thru July 31 at the Barbara Kramer Gallery, located at the Belfast Free Library.

The exhibit, Imagine the Maine Woods National Park, puts a face to the land and wild denizens of the proposed national park. In 2007 the award-winning photography team of Thomas Mark Szelog and Lee Ann Szelog created the Maine Woods National Park Photo-Documentation Project to provide education and inspiration, through photographs and words, to encourage society to work cooperatively to make the Park a reality. After logging more than 25,000 miles through Maine's Great North Woods during the past nine years, they have created a collection of images reflecting the raw splendor and fragility of this vast wilderness ecosystem.

This is the same forest that Henry David Thoreau explored 150 years ago and is home to myriad species, including moose, bear, brook trout and migratory songbirds, along with several endangered and threatened species, including Canada lynx and Atlantic salmon, among others.

Essays from notable environmental conservationists in support of the creation of the proposed park including President Jimmy Carter; Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune; Stewart Brandborg, former executive director of the Wilderness Society; and environmental thinker David Suzuki, will complement the exhibit.

The Szelogs have won numerous local, regional, and national awards for their photographs and have written and photographed two books, including the multi-award-winning book, Our Point of View-Fourteen Years at a Maine Lighthouse, and By a Maine River – A Year of Looking Closely. As passionate advocates for wildlife conservation, the Szelogs are dedicated to sharing their words and photographs to educate and inspire people about the important role the natural world plays in our lives, and stimulate people to conserve, protect, honor and cherish it.