The big picture underscores the importance of community

During 2021 we asked every NANPA member and other nature photography enthusiasts to make a gift of $25 or more to the NANPA Foundation, the charitable arm of NANPA. Our goal was to raise $25,000 in honor of the Foundation’s 25th birthday to support nature photography education, environmental protection, and responsible photography in the wild.

We exceeded that goal, securing $40,272.62.

The photograph above, created by Cindy Miller Hopkins, served as our fundraising meter throughout the campaign. As we achieved milestones, we revealed a corresponding percentage of the image. We promised to reveal “the big picture” when we hit 100% of our fundraising goal.

But this photo of a King penguin colony is more than just a fun way to track our progress. It is also a reminder of the importance of community. While King penguins don’t huddle for survival the way their relatives the Emperor penguins do, members of the colony are, in fact, dependent on one another. If separated, for example, they’ll work to rearrange themselves again in proximity of one another.

Our lives as nature photographers may often feel similar. So much of our work is independent of others. We may sit alone in a blind for hours at a time. We may proactively strive to differentiate ourselves from other photographers. And yet, we can’t make it alone. Constructive feedback from other photographers, collaborative projects, and field work alongside scientists and other photographers are some of the hallmarks of the job.

The same spirit of community is visible among nature photography organizations as well. NANPA provides valuable support to its members, and NANPA Foundation helps complete the picture by accepting charitable gifts and using them to support a variety of programs, including some that reach beyond NANPA’s membership.

25 Years and Growing

A few years after the storied meeting at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute established NANPA as a membership-based association, the NANPA Foundation was formed as a separate but complementary nonprofit organization. Structured differently, the Foundation can accept tax-deductible charitable donations and shares NANPA’s commitment to nature photography education, environmental protection, and responsible photography in the wild. Together, NANPA and the NANPA Foundation offer a more complete array of possibilities for the nature photography community.

Learn more about how the NANPA Foundation extends the work of NANPA in our 2021 annual report.

Clay Bolt of Livingston, Montana has been named the 2019 Philip Hyde Conservation Grant recipient by the NANPA Foundation. Bolt’s award of $2,500 will be used to continue his study of bumble bees, specifically the effect of climate change on bumble bees in the Sky Islands in south-central New Mexico.

While bumble bees are specially adapted to thrive in cold climates, they are being forced to move even higher in elevation to remain in a comfortable zone as temperatures rise. Eventually, they will reach the summit of the Sierra Blanca and run out of suitable habitat. Bolt intends to use the grant to study and document the North American species of bumble bees – the Bombus cockerelli – the species with the fewest known specimens and the smallest known distribution. Because its habitat consists of almost entirely government-owned and Native American lands, if there is any threat to its survival, it’s from the pressures of climate change as it is forced to higher elevations.

Bolt’s study will lead to articles and presentations about the plight of bumble bees. Additionally, he hopes his photographic research will help tie the effects of climate change to future bumble bee decline and raise alarm that, without regulation, species will go extinct.

Bolt’s efforts have been ongoing for the past five years and he hopes to wrap up the project in 2021.

Since 1999, the Philip Hyde Conservation Grant has been made possible by individual donations to the NANPA Foundation. It is awarded by the NANPA Foundation to a North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) member who is actively pursuing a conservation project that is consistent with the missions of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation.

This grant was named for Philip J. Hyde who was the primary conservation photographer for the Sierra Club and became known for his color images of Western landscapes that became a weapon against environmental degradation.  Photographers receiving the grant are following in his footsteps of environmental protection through photography.

The NANPA Foundation initiates, partners, operates, and generates funding for projects that advance the awareness and appreciation of nature through photography.  For information about the NANPA Foundation, visit its website at www.nanpafoundation.org.

Freshman Nickolas Warner of Papillion, Nebraska has been named the 2019 Janie Moore Greene Grant recipient. He is beginning his undergraduate studies in photography at Arizona State University.

Warner’s interest in photography was amplified after a trip to Malaysian Borneo where he first got to visit some of the locations he’d been studying through National Geographic throughout his childhood. He was struck by the condition of the rainforests when he got there. The trip inspired him to hone his photography skills to help show the world not only the beauty of what needs protection, but also what happens when nature isn’t protected.

The Janie Moore Greene Grant is a $1,000 award given annually by the NANPA Foundation through the generosity of Janie Moore Greene to a student currently enrolled in, or who has been accepted to, an institution of higher education specializing in the study of photography.

Information about how to apply for the next award will posted on the website in late summer on the NANPA Foundation website.

Attendees of NANPA’s 2019 Nature Photography Summit and Trade Show rose to the occasion for the NANPA Foundation – to put it mildly!

Nearly $22,000 was raised at the February event in Las Vegas, thanks to the $11,821 donated by attendees and the additional $10,000 that was pledged by several donors before the event as a match to donations secured onsite.

In addition to its fundraising campaign, the NANPA Foundation also engaged attendees in a game of “Dead or Alive” during Saturday’s luncheon. Participants listened to a list of famous individuals and had to correctly identify if the person was dead or alive to continue playing the game and having a chance to win the cash prize. Congratulations to Julie Gustafson who was the last donor standing!

2019 NANPA Summit Attendees Play Dead or Alive During Saturday’s Luncheon. Photo by Janice Braud

The NANPA Foundation is a separate nonprofit organization that provides resources to advance the awareness and appreciation of nature through photography. The Foundation funds NANPA’s high school and college student photography programs as well as awards grants for photo blinds to be built in public nature areas, conservation projects using photography, and for the study of photography in a higher education setting.

Money raised at the Summit will be used to fund NANPA’s 2020 High School Scholarship Program, the 2021 NANPA Summit College Scholarship Program, the 2019 Philip Hyde Grant and potential photo blind grant applications that are received.

NANPA Foundation Board Trustees Mary Jane Gibson and Sonia Wasco emcee the Foundation’s Dead or Alive fundraising game. Photo by Janice Braud

For more information on the NANPA Foundation and the programs that it supports, visit the Foundation’s website at www.nanpafoundation.org.

The Dead or Alive game raised $944 for the NANPA Foundation during the 2019 Summit. Photo by Janice Braud

A special thanks to the following donors who gave during the 2019 Summit:

Anonymous (10)

Barbara Adams

Betty Anderson

Roger Archibald

David Armer

Ragnar Avery

Peggy Baker

Alyce Bender

Jeffrey Botkin

Lynne Buchanan

Alice Cahill

Don Carter

John Craig

Michael Daniel

Richard & Susan Day

Steven DeHaas

Tom Duffy

Gary Farber

George Feehan – in memory of Peggy Feehan

Carol Grenier

Ronald Grzeda

Bruce Haley

Jane Halperin – in memory of Richard Halperin

Jeannine Hansen

Jeanne Hartman

Tom Haxby

Carl Henry

Sarah Herman

Jon Holloway

Greg Jaeger

Roger Johnson

Rick Kattelmann

Airdrie Kincaid

Richard LaBelle

Bill MacFarland

Susan McElhinney

Cindy Miller Hopkins

Ted Moreno

Marcia Mueller

Charles Needle

Lou Nettelhorst – in memory of Nancy Rotenberg and Pat Wadecki

Barbara O’Connor

Ted Orwig

Naiara Paiva – in memory of Richard Halperin

Dee Ann Pederson

Cheryl Pelavin

Richard Perkins

Patrick Pevey

Gabby Salazar

Michael Schertz

Sherry Schmidt

Karen Schuenemann

Jennifer Smith

Andy Smith

Jeanne Sparks

Larry St. Pierre

Michael Stearns

Karen Sullivan

George Theodore

Budd Titlow

Greg Vaughn

David Vellenga

Sonia Wasco

Wayne Waters

Robert Wilbourn

Andy Wilson

NANPA Foundation has awarded Mac Stone of Greenville, South Carolina with its 2018 Philip Hyde Grant of $2,500 for his Old Growth: Ancient Swamps of the South project.

Since 1999, the Philip Hyde Grant has been made possible by individual donations to the NANPA Foundation. It is awarded by the NANPA Foundation to a NANPA member who is actively pursuing an environmental project that is consistent with the missions of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation.

Stone’s project focuses on three locations: Corkscrew Swamp in Naples, FL; Congaree National Park near Columbia, SC; and Beidler Forest near Charleston, SC. Although these properties are secure from development, the challenges that they face result from outside forces and the ongoing dissolution and fragmentation of wetland habitat on the periphery that threatens the hydrology, connectivity, ecology and integrity of these landscapes. These old growth swamps are some of the most biodiverse and ecologically rich landscapes of the nation. They exist on the fringes of large cities and yet they are widely unknown. The goal, however, is not to overload the sanctuaries with visitors, but to heighten the profile and increase the appreciation for and understanding of all wetland forests through the compelling narratives found in these ambassadorial swamps. This comes at a critical time when southern states have started to witness firsthand the ecological and social roles that wetlands must be allowed to play, especially after hurricanes Irma, Florence and Michael.

A raccoon emerges from a hollowed Tupelo tree in the Beidler Forest, SC. © Mac Stone

Photography is the delivery vehicle for this entire project. As visual creatures, we use what we see to teach us what we know. If the majority of the public is afraid to physically explore these flooded forests, then it becomes harder to convince them to become advocates for their protection. Photography is the door that most people need to walk through to visit these places for the first time.

Old Growth will use some of the most advanced and creative photographic tools to bring these stories to fruition. Camera traps will document the nocturnal and seldom-seen wildlife that inhabits these bottomland forests. Drones and aerial photography from fixed wing airplanes will help document the context in which the landscapes exist. Canopy surveys of 100-foot tall cypress will also be used to highlight the botanical diversity found in the ancient trees. Underwater photography will reveal the aquatic life that provides the foundation from which the entire system runs. Furthermore, photography will play the main role in creating breakthroughs in science that this project will reveal.

© Mac Stone

The grant will help finish the fieldwork gathering photography and information that will be complied into a coffee-table book, expected to be published in November 2020, followed by a traveling exhibit throughout the southern area of the United States.

A yellow bellied slider and American alligator soak up the sun on a submerged log in the Francis Beidler Forest, South Carolina. © Mac Stone

This grant was named for Philip J. Hyde who was the primary conservation photographer for the Sierra Club and became known for his color images of Western landscapes that became a weapon against environmental degradation.  Photographers receiving the grant are following in his footsteps of environmental protection through photography.

The NANPA Foundation initiates, partners, operates, and generates funding for projects that advance the awareness and appreciation of nature through photography.  For information about the NANPA Foundation, visit its website at www.nanpafoundation.org.

Jake Brown Homovich of Downsville, New York has been chosen as the 2018 Janie Moore Greene Grant recipient. He is beginning his graduate program studies in photography at the Maine Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at the Maine College of Art.

Remote Village in Western Sichuan, China © Jake Brown Homovich

Following graduation from his undergraduate studies, Homovich moved to Chengdu, China to hone his artistic ability as a photographer. He is documenting the minority populations of China, particularly the Qiang, Hui and Tibetan people, and how the rapid growth of tourism within China has affected their culture, geography, religion and ways of life.

The Janie Moore Greene Grant is a $1,000 award given annually by the NANPA Foundation through the generosity of Janie Moore Greene to a student currently enrolled in, or who has been accepted to, an institution of higher education specializing in the study of photography.

Applications for the 2019 award will be accepted beginning in late summer. For more information and updates, visit the NANPA Foundation website.

Morgan Heim of Astoria, Oregon has been awarded the 2017 Philip Hyde Grant by the NANPA Foundation for her work on Trespass, a photographic project that illuminates the environmental impacts of trespass marijuana operations on California’s public lands. Trespass marijuana grows are illegal cultivation of marijuana on public land, usually a national forest, park, wilderness area or sacred tribal lands and are happening in thousands of sites throughout California. Aside from the drug war implications, these trespass sites’ large quantities of pesticides and rodenticides on crops and camps are causing an epidemic of wildlife poisonings, clear-cuts, water theft and pollution.

© Morgan Heim

The Philip Hyde Grant will enable Heim to camera-trap unreclaimed grow sites where wildlife rummage through the refuse of an eradicated grow and are at great risk for poisoning. Heim’s four years’ worth of work on the project has so far resulted in magazine articles, short films and a media library about the trespass grows and their impact on the environment. She intends to create gallery exhibit kits for her and her partners to distribute to create guerilla-style marketing campaigns about the environmental issues associated with the trespass grows. Photography is a key component to all of this education about the growing problem.

© Morgan Heim

Since 1999, the Philip Hyde Grant has been made possible by individual donations to the NANPA Foundation. It is awarded by the NANPA Foundation to a NANPA member who is actively pursuing a peer-reviewed environmental project that is consistent with the missions of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation.

©Morgan Heim

This grant was named for Philip J. Hyde who was the primary conservation photographer for the Sierra Club and became known for his color images of Western landscapes that became a weapon against environmental degradation.  Photographers receiving the grant are following in his footsteps of environmental protection through photography.

The NANPA Foundation initiates, partners, operates, and generates funding for projects that advance the awareness and appreciation of nature through photography.  For information about the NANPA Foundation, visit its website at www.nanpafoundation.org.

Kelsey Gramza of West Falls, New York has been chosen as the 2017 Janie Moore Greene Grant recipient. She is in her sophomore year at University at Buffalo and is pursuing a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in photography. University at Buffalo is in Buffalo, New York.

© Kelsey Gramza, 2017 Janie Moore Greene Grant Recipient

Gramza’s career goals are to go on to graduate school and become a photography professor at a university. She currently runs a photography club at University at Buffalo.

© Kelsey Gramza, 2017 Janie Moore Greene Grant Recipient

Gramza shared what has led up to her studying photography which started when she was eight years old and picked up a camera for the first time. Her father commended her on her first photographs and she hasn’t looked back since. In 2013, she was awarded a NANPA High School Scholarship Program scholarship which allowed her to attend NANPA’s 2013 Nature Photography Summit and Trade Show in Jacksonville, Florida. Gramza described that experience as “one of the most inspiring weeks of my life. I learned more from that experience than I ever had about photography and I connected with so many others in my group. To this day, I still keep in contact with and watch those in the program with me grow in their photography.”

© Kelsey Gramza, 2017 Janie Moore Greene Grant Recipient

The Janie Moore Greene Grant is a $1,000 award given annually by the NANPA Foundation through the generosity of Janie Moore Greene to a student currently enrolled in, or who has been accepted to, an institution of higher education specializing in the study of photography.

Applications for the 2018 award will be accepted beginning in late summer. For more information and updates, visit the NANPA Foundation website.