Many of you go back to the naturephotographers.net days, and for a long time the old site has been hard to reach. It was running on software from the early 2000s, and the server was down more often than it was up. I’m happy to share that the whole archive is back online at naturephotographers.net, on a new server with an all new backend, and it’s been polished along the way.
What changed
The old server has been retired. The archive now runs on Cloudflare’s global network, so it loads quickly from anywhere and shouldn’t go down. It works well on phones, and it has a cleaner design that keeps the original NPN logo. Old links and bookmarks still work: they take you straight to the right page in the new archive.
What’s in the archive
Critique galleries: 58,314 photos and more than 546,000 comments from 2003 to 2018, including Weekly Picks, Staff Showcase and the Editor’s Pick Awards galleries
Forums: over 63,000 discussion threads, including the regional forums
Member portfolios: more than 2,000 photographers
The magazine: articles and reviews back to 2000, Nature Photography 101, the Bill Silliker archives, and the Why Nature Photography slideshows, which now play on phones too
New: Search
You can now search across photos, photographers, forum topics and magazine articles from one place. Search is in the menu at the top of every page.
Brought back
Some things hadn’t been reachable for years. These are back:
The regional group websites, at their original addresses: Colorado, Central States, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Northern and Southern California, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and the UK. Each one is linked next to its forum on the Forums page. This includes the Colorado group’s Fall Color contests from 2007 to 2013, which had dropped off their menus.
Reader comments on magazine articles: 591 comments from 2008 to 2014 that had stopped showing on the old site
Letters to the Editor: 223 letters from 2000 to 2008, rebuilt from the Internet Archive, since the old page was replaced with each update
Early columns: 19 of Charles Glatzer’s early “On Location” columns, recovered from the Internet Archive
363 early critiques from 2003 to 2005 that had been separated from their photos
What isn’t there
The critique galleries were a rolling system, so many older photos were removed over the years and no longer exist anywhere. The galleries from before late 2003 are gone as well. Everything that survived is preserved.
The archive is read-only. For new critiques and conversation, this community is home.
It’s been a lot of fun seeing so much of NPN’s history in one place again. If you find any of your old photos or threads in there, I’d love to see them shared here.
David, thank you for your hard work in resurrecting the old site. I had immediate recall and fond memories seeing all the names still in the Portfolio archives of so many members over time. 3 members I started with back in 2006 were in that list as we had all moved from the original Shutterpoint site back in the day. They were Marc Adamus, Mike Dawson and John Benway. John was listed as John & Patty Benway as they were both a photo team over the years.
Later I met many CANP members in the field. Preston Birdwell, Lon Overacker, Harley Goldman, Youssef Ismail, Michael Gordon, Steve Sirren and several others over time.
This first photo was a early CANP group I found in my old portfolio list on the original site. The second image below is a later one from the Nelli Deli gathering that I’ve posted in the past here on NPN 2.
Wow! What a trip down memory lane. I had been wondering recently when I first joined, and it looks like it was 2010! I was into flowers and bees. Some familiar faces there, for sure.
Thank you, David! It was fun to see the old photographs. I noticed that when I view a photo in my gallery and then click “next,” the photo is not the next one in my gallery.
David: As a certified old NPN dinosaur may I extend my heartfelt thanks for going to so much effort. I joined in 2001 and if some of that early early stuff is gone I think I’m thankful since some of it was pretty awful, BUT, it is through NPN that I’ve grown in competence and love for photography. It’s folks like you who make it possible. Many kudos >=))>
David, what a trip down the memory highway! Thank you and any who helped bring all of this wonderful content back to life. I joined in July of 2002. When I first joined, NPN was on the vBulletin software and that content was lost when Jim Erhardt hired DTP (Dave the Programmer) to write the version that appears in the links you provided.
Here’s a thought:
I encourage all current NPNers to look over the old version. If you see someone there that you can reach out to, ask them to consider reinstating their membership. New contributing members will ensure NPN stays around for a long time.
David, thank you for your effort here. Preserving history informs the present, and in a sense, the future.
-P
What a trip down memory lane! Those 6x7 film images still stand out and may be better than the best digital work we are doing now. They are marvels to behold. I don’t see any of Guy Tal’s work though. Perhaps his essays are still online. Lots of old members who I remember interacting with that are no longer with us. When I joined Kal Kit Kahn was a moderator. And McDermott.
