For Julia Sims, photography originally served as an excuse to spend time in
the Manchac Swamp. She had turned to the swamp for solace after a family
tragedy, and as she put it, “I couldn't go out there and not do anything.” So
she visited the swamp frequently, and as her concern for the vanishing wetlands
grew, she was inspired to photo-document the swamp and share her love of nature
with the world.
For more than twenty years, Sims' work has been the subject of feature
stories and reviews. Magazines such as National Geographic, Birder's
World, and Reader's Digest have published her photographs. Her work
has been exhibited at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Louisiana
Sportmen's Show and Festival, the Louisiana Wildlife Festival, the Covington
Three Rivers Art Festival, and the Pensacola Art Festival. Private-collection
works are displayed at Baptist Hospital, the Claiborne Mansion, the Louisiana
Land and Exploration office, the Tulane University Law School, the Tulane
University Medical School, Magnolia Marketing, and Crescent Crown Distributing.
Sims was also commissioned for an Absolut Vodka billboard and the Sierra Club
Centennial Campaign.
An active member of her community, Sims cofounded the Richard M. Murphy
Memorial Hospice and the Lake Maurepas Society and served on the board of the
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. She was the keynote speaker at an
Audubon Society meeting and at the Sierra Club and has frequently given slide
presentations at Rotary, Kiwanis, and many other clubs. Prior to realizing her
talent for photography, Sims spent many years as a schoolteacher and as a
medical social worker. She has a BA in education and an MA in social work
from Louisiana State University. She served on the Louisiana State Board of
Pardons for twelve years and retired in 2007.
Sims divides her time between Louisiana and Montana. She is married to Joe
Arthur Sims and they have two adult children, Scotty and William, and one
grandchild, Aidan
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