MASTERWORKS' Artists Up Front . . . Street series continues tonight with a collection of photographs by botanist Jeffrey Porter.

The exhibit is the first for Mr. Porter. An employee with the Parks Department, he tends to the grounds of the Botanical Gardens and has been an avid plant grower for many years.

Never having taken a photography course, he began snapping photographs of his prized orchids and other flowering plants last year as a means of preserving their beauty.

"I took pictures while they were flowering so I could remember them," he said. "I used to work at Aberfeldy Nurseries. Masterworks held a function there, I showed them my slides, and it went from there."

On exhibit will be 20 photographs, mainly close-ups, of flowers in bloom. The majority were taken in Bermuda although two were shot on a visit Mr. Porter paid to Kew Gardens in London. Many of the plants photographed were grown by the artist himself.

Said Deidre Furtado of Masterworks: "A treat is in store for nature lovers. Although Jeffrey has never exhibited his work, staff at Masterworks were so impressed by this young man's abilities, he was invited to submit his photography for consideration for the Artists Up Front . . . Street series, and was accepted. Masterworks is proud to showcase him and feel that this show represents their goal of encouraging unknown, gifted local artists."

q The exhibit opens tonight at Masterworks Gallery, 97 Front Street, and runs through April 1.