WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA.- The Kopeikin Gallery presents the first California exhibition by Los Angeles based photographer Mitch Dobrowner. Titled "Troposphere" the exhibition features recent work of extreme weather throughout the Midwestern United States. The exhibition opens on January 9 and continues through March 6. A reception for the artist will take place on Saturday, January 30, from 6:00 - 8:00.

Mitch Dobrowner has always loved storms; the rumble of distant thunder, the flashes of lightning, the energy and electricity in the skies. Watching a storm born from a small, unstable weather system and developing into a towering, powerful, beautiful and majestic "super cell" is for him a sight to behold, and one he wants to share.

Starting in Rapid City, South Dakota, Dobrowner spent ten days driving over 5700 miles in ten mid-western states photographing severe weather systems. These states included: Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.

On July 13, 2009 Dobrowner tracked a severe weather system for nine hours, from its initial formation outside of Sturgis, South Dakota through the Badlands and into Nebraska. By the time it came to rest in a field outside the town of Valentine, the cloud structure of this super cell had reached an amazing 65,000 feet. The lightning, with the rumble of hail and 60 mph inflow wind gusts made the physical experience of standing there similar to being in front of a 65,000 foot high vacuum cleaner. Visually it was like witnessing an atomic explosion.

Through his series of photographs Dobrowner hopes to communicate nothing less than the powerful beauty he felt while experiencing these amazing forces of nature. He wants the viewer to know what it's like to stand in a field as an inflow of cold air feeds into the storm; the electricity, rain, hail, wind, and the smell of the crops as they are being pounded in the fields.

Mitch Dobrowner grew up on Long Island, New York. In his late teens his father gave him an old Argus rangefinder camera and after seeing the images of Minor White and Ansel Adams quickly became addicted to photography. At 21 he left home to see the American Southwest and settled in California where he started a family, created a successful design studio, and stopped taking pictures. Years later, in 2005, Mitch again picked up a camera and today sees as his mission to make up for years of lost time

Mitch creates images that evoke wonder of the planet. He concentrates on landscapes that have existed well before our time and will continue long after we are gone. In this pursuit he acknowledges his debt to the great photographers of the past, especially Ansel Adams, for their dedication and inspiration.