NPN Staff Profile - Nate Chappell

Avian Gallery Moderator

Hi everyone, I'm Nate Chappell, the Avian Gallery moderator for Naturephotographers Online Magazine.

From a very early age I was fascinated with wildlife and birds. In my early 20s I started doing a lot of travelling and combined it with a passion for birdwatching and photography. My photography and birdwatching trips have taken me to every continent, except Antarctica. On one of my trips I met my wife Angie, while travelling in Ecuador. We continued doing a lot of travelling and wildlife photography and 2 years ago decided to start leading people on nature photo tours to Ecuador, Thailand and other great locations. It seemed a natural extension of our love for both travel and wildlife photography. Ecuador is a natural destination for us as Angie is a native Ecuadorian and worked for a travel agency there. This year we added bird photography workshops here in the Southwestern United States to our offerings. We have spent a lot of time photographing the birds of Southeast Arizona. Our website for our tours and workshops is www.trogontours.net.

My photography has been featured in many northwest birding periodicals and newsletters. In addition I have enjoyed doing digital slide presentations of my work for many groups including many Northwest Audubon societies. I'm currently getting more involved in the stock photography side of the photography business.

I hope that through my photography people gain a better understanding of the beauty and behavior of the birds and other animals that I photograph. We share the planet with all these beautiful creatures and every species is precious. On our tours and workshops I hope that participants learn a lot more about nature photography and about the species that they are photographing. It's my opinion that knowing the natural history and habits of your wildlife photography subject is the most important aspect for successful wildlife photography.

I have learned a great deal about nature photography here on NPN and continue to learn from many of the fine photographers here. I'm enjoying being a moderator and hope that I can pass on some of my knowledge to the avian gallery participants. I invite you to email me with any nature photography or nature travel questions that you may have.

e-mail Nate Chappell