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Locations

NANPA Turns 15

The annual Summit is both a gathering of friends and colleagues as well as a wonderful shooting opportunity for attendees

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Mono Lake, California

It has been 15 years since a group of nature-photography devotees gathered at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, N.Y., and decided to form the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA). This coming February will mark NANPA’s 15th Annual Summit and Trade Show. The 2009 Summit will be held in Albuquerque, N.M., near some of the best nature-photography subjects in North America.

I’ve been fortunate to have attended all previous NANPA Summits (we called them “Forums” in the old days) and have used the trips to the Summits as an opportunity to shoot in the vicinity. In fact, NANPA considers local photo ops an important criterion in selecting Summit locations, which is one of the reasons why all 14 previous Summits (all winter events) have occurred well south or west of the home that Jane Herman and I share in New Jersey.

My first major photo jaunt after a NANPA meeting was a cruise around the Baja Peninsula aboard the Searcher after the 1996 Forum in San Diego, Calif. Fellow passengers included Mary Ann and Joe McDonald, George Lepp, Norbert Rosing and Chip Holdsworth.

Elephant Seal Bull, Baja California Sur

Tucson, Arizona

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