17 Feb 2010: Program – Nikographer Jon

Jon grew up in New York, where he took Black and White photography courses in both high school and college.  His dad was an English teacher, and his family owned a small sail boat.  His family spent 15 summers on the boat and cruised the coast of New England; this was the foundation for a love of the outdoors, and an appreciation for life at a slower pace.

He moved to Maryland in 1997 from New York for a hi-tech job. In 2005 he rediscovered photography with the purchase of a digital SLR (Nikon D70s).  It took about 6 months to get proficient enough with the camera to capture a handful of images which became the spark for a real passion for nature and photography.  It took another 12 months to wear out the shutter on the D70s.  Jon now mainly shoots with a D300s and 200-400mm VR, and recently began shooting video too.

Preferring to stay local to areas about 100 miles from home, Jon shoots at Bombay Hook and Blackwater Refuges, as well as the US National Zoo and Great Falls National Park – and has visited those locations in aggregate a couple 100 of times.  Jon plans to shows off some of the results of all those visits, describe some of the lessons he’s learn and will offer some suggestions on how club members can improve their own nature and wildlife photography.

Jon has a few images available for licensing on  GettyImages.com.  He’s also donated many more images to good causes like the Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Refuge System, and Journey North and other educational organizations.

Jon likes to keep his online presence distinctly separate from his real-life identity, and has chosen the handle “nikographer”, and has photos on nikographer.com.