Candid Camera

After 17 years as a California bioengineer, shutterbug Aleks Raskin realized he'd scored all the money, cars, and success he could ever want. But at 43, he was also fed up with life. "I was going to bed miserable and waking up miserable. And I realized that money is a trivial thing," says Raskin. "I found that money can't buy happiness."So he meditated for a year in India and Nepal. He then moved to Cleveland to join his family four years ago. That's when Raskin turned to photography. His latest exhibit of landscapes and portraits opens tonight in Beachwood. "I take a picture and dig out of it what I see in it," says Raskin. "I see inside the moment."Today, his work hangs in galleries and private homes from Ohio to California. He admits that he no longer keeps company with misery. "I don't have expensive cars or eat expensive sushi. But I feel the sun or the rain, and smell the exhaust-pipe crap coming out of cars," says Raskin. "I go to the Metroparks and take a shot to find out what's in there." The exhibit is on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays and Fridays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays at Opus Gallery, 27629 Chagrin Boulevard in Beachwood. Admission is free. Call 216-595-1376 or visit www.opus-gallery.com.
Saturdays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Mondays-Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Starts: June 14. Continues through July 19, 2008