As we continue to grow and evolve, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the impact that Nature Photographers Network has had on our members. Each of you contributes to making NPN a vibrant, supportive, and educational space for nature photographers of all levels.
We’d love to hear your NPN success stories! Whether you’re a long-time member or have recently joined, please share:
How has NPN contributed to your growth as a photographer?
What specific skills or techniques have you learned through our community?
How has giving or receiving critiques improved your work?
Have you formed any meaningful connections or collaborations through NPN?
What’s your favorite aspect of being part of the NPN community?
Is there a particular moment or interaction on NPN that stands out as particularly inspiring or helpful?
Your stories not only help us understand the impact of NPN but also inspire others to engage more deeply with our community. Feel free to share as much or as little as you’re comfortable with, and don’t hesitate to include before-and-after examples of your work if you’d like to illustrate your progress visually.
Thank you for being part of NPN and for helping to create this supportive environment for nature photographers. We’re excited to read about your experiences and to celebrate your growth together!
I thought I’d just use the outline here to make some comments that may connect with others who have had similar results or feelings.
• How has NPN contributed to your growth as a photographer?
• Prior to Youtube becoming any aid for photography Q&A NPN was and has always been a place to ask & receive input from basic level to professional level support. Needless to say even after almost 20 years of that photographic support path from NPN I still remain connected.
• What specific skills or techniques have you learned through our community?
• For me it has always been in post processing or overall final image results. The list of learned processes in that arena is extensive and truly never ending.
• How has giving or receiving critiques improved your work?
• In the early stages it is extremely invaluable. Receiving both positive and negative input from others helps one to correct repetitive errors. The constant recall to missed items in processing helps narrow down and eliminate those errors over time.
• Have you formed any meaningful connections or collaborations through NPN?
• As life runs at warp speed these days many of the connections and close ties to others has shifted over time. I could easily name at least 20 to 30 very fine photographers who have traveled thru NPN from the very early years until now that I’ve worked with on line and or in the field.
• What’s your favorite aspect of being part of the NPN community?
• It’s hard to find any social media sites that doesn’t seem to have a certain amount of sniping or infighting at times. With that said photographic sites seem extremely self-controlled for the most part and NPN remains the best at retaining that posture.
• Is there a particular moment or interaction on NPN that stands out as particularly inspiring or helpful?
• Digging back in the archives brings back fond thoughts of so many encounters on line at NPN as well as in the field with other members. I started on line at NPN back in 2006 with 3 other Shutterpoint transfers. Marc Adamus, Mike Dawson, and John Benway were excellent and all became better photographers in their own right as members of NPN. It was during the infancy of NPN that regional groups were formed and stronger ties were made through field meet ups which would last a few days at a time. The CANP group headed up by moderator Preston Birdwell at the time had several formal and informal gatherings in the Eastern Sierras.
How has NPN contributed to your growth as a photographer?
Oh man…perspective! There is a variety of perspectives and approaches that make me think/reevaluate. For so many of us, photography is a solitary pursuit, done in little bubbles of our own opinions, habits, aesthetics and intentions. As Kramer from Seinfeld said about hating baths, “I’m sitting there in a tepid pool of my own filth.”
Getting reactions from other people is a refreshing shower because they are often novel, come from a place of knowledge and experience, and are given with the idea of improving and helping the other person. So nice to be out of that bath!
What specific skills or techniques have you learned through our community?
Directly by improving my field technique, especially with regard to composition - balancing visual weight and providing deliberate cues to move a viewer’s eye through my photo. My experiences in front of my subjects have had a tendency to overawe me, and while that is a good thing, it can cloud my ability to encapsulate that emotion. By simplifying composition I can better convey why I stopped for the shot in the first place.
How has giving or receiving critiques improved your work?
In the field, I often think about the folks on NPN whose work I admire and try to channel their reactions to the photo I’m taking. In essence, keeping lessons fresh in mind and applying them before I submit for critique.
When giving critique, I didn’t take the photo, therefore I’m not invested in the process, but only the result and doing so has made me more aware of exactly what makes an image work for me or not. I also can see opportunities to use tools and techniques that might be more automatic for me; something I rarely think about when I’m taking pictures myself. This separation of ownership and emotion is key to evaluating photos in a non-subjective way. Quite freeing and thought provoking.
I would say that I was fairly active on NPN in the mid-2000s when landscape and nature photography wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Knowing there was a community out there that shared my interests helped motivate me to stick with it and keep pursuing photography. NPN also opened my eyes to other styles beyond sunrise / sunset landscapes. There are a lot of creative photographers out there that are not necessarily well-known. Kudos to David and Jennifer for keeping NPN alive.
