NANPA President Don Carter
Message from Don Carter, NANPA President
As this winter starts to fade I’m thinking about spring photography and, for me, it’s getting out of the deserts of Arizona and into the mountains of Wyoming. I’m remembering last May’s Regional Event in Yellowstone where I was able to photograph seven different bears in a single day. This year I’m going to return with a stop in Jackson for NANPA’s Nature Photography Celebration, May 20 – 22.
We already have over 100 members planning to attend the Celebration, but I want to remind everyone else the early bird discount ends on April 9th. This event is all about celebrating what we love to do, photographing in the morning with friends (old and new), trying new gear, listening to great presentations and just enjoying being outdoors in the beautiful Tetons.
The vendors are coming. Canon, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, and Tamron will be lending gear to be used in the field. Hunt’s Photo and Video and Wyoming Camera Outfitters will have gear to sell. It’s not often we will have access to so many cameras and lenses to use especially in such a beautiful location. Our presentations will be held at the Jackson Center for the Arts, a 500-seat theater located just off the center of downtown Jackson. We have a great line-up of speakers who will be making “Ted Talk” style presentations. I’m excited about hearing the presentation by Dennis Jorgensen entitled “Buffalo-People: The Path Back for Bison and Plains Tribes,” and Jenny Nichols’ presentation, “The Power of Multi-Disciplinary Projects” among others. Check the schedule to see a listing of all the other wonderful presentations at this event.
I hope to see the entire NANPA membership at this event.
One of the most important educational programs NANPA offers is our Ethical Field Practices recommendations. Our Ethics Committee, under the direction of Melissa Groo, has updated our Truth in Captioning guidelines and Ethical Field Practices statements. The goals for the Truth in Captioning guidelines are as follows:
- Educate the public and photo viewers about the context and intent of the image.
- Maintain public trust in the credibility of the image.
- Help to educate other photographers.
We believe that NANPA should be a leader in educating photographers on ethical practices based on scientific research. We are not the “nature police” but providing information based on facts, not fiction, is an important part of our mission. I want to personally thank Melissa and her committee for all their hard work and efforts to make us a better organization. The updated statements can be found at nanpa.org in the advocacy section of the web site.
If anyone has an interest on serving on a NANPA committee, let us know. NANPA relies on the hard work of our committees to help us guide our future so come help.
Best wishes to all,
Don Carter
