Portfolio Reviews

Miriam Stein Battles

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am

As a photo editor specializing in nature and conservation, Miriam has worked on magazines, books and websites. She is currently the Editorial Director for Wild Eye magazine.

Combining her conservation background with her photo professional skills, she’s worked for nonprofits such as National Geographic Society, Ocean Geographic and The Nature Conservancy and freelanced extensively for over a dozen clients including Frans Lanting, David Doubilet, Apple, SONY and National Geographic Society, both as a photo editor and a professional retoucher.

Justin Black

Thursday, May 15 / 8:0am – 9:30am
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Over his thirty-year career, photographer Justin Black has been published and exhibited widely, and has contributed photographs in support of major conservation campaigns to protect threatened landscapes and ecosystems around the world.

His images are featured prominently in books supporting conservation initiatives, and editorial clients have included the National Geographic Society and magazines and newspapers worldwide. He has been a regular contributor of feature articles to Outdoor Photographer and Wild Eye magazines, and his fine prints are in collections around the globe. He operates world-class photo workshops and expeditions through Visionary Wild.

Kathy Adams Clark

Thursday, May 15 / 3:00pm – 6:30pm
Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Kathy Adams Clark has been a professional nature photographer since 1995.   She enjoys talking to photographers who are trying to find marketing opportunities for their work. 

Kathy’s photos have been published in hundreds of places including Family Fun,, Nature’s Best, New York Times, Birder’s World, and Ranger Rick.  AAA Journey, Texas Parks & Wildlife and Texas Highways magazines have used Kathy’s photos on their cover.  Her photos have also appeared in a numerous books and calendars including the Barnes & Noble Ireland Countryside Calendar, the cover of the Arbor Foundation Rainforest Calendar, and the Sierra Engagement Calendar.   Kathy’s photos of Houston were compiled into a calendar offered in Costco.

Her photos appear every week in the “Nature” column in the Houston Chronicle written by her husband, Gary Clark.  Kathy and Gary have worked with national publishing houses to produce ten books that combine their photography and writing skills.  Their latest books are Book of Texas Birds published by Texas A&M University Press and Backroads of Texas published by Voyageur Press. 

Kathy’s photography is featured in Portrait of Houston published by Farcountry Press.  Photographing Big Bend National Park, published by Texas A&M Press, is written by Kathy and uses her photography throughout. 

Kathy is Past-president of the North American Nature Photography Association.  She teaches photography and is a popular speaker at local and national events.  She leads photo tours through Strabo Tours to countries including Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, Africa, Italy, Peru, Morocco, and Norway.

Ralph Clevenger

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 1:00pm – 4:00pm 

Ralph holds degrees in both zoology and photography and was a senior faculty member at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA for 33 years.

Ralph is now retired from his 40-year commercial photography business but still travels extensively sharing images via his website and Instagram account, @ralphwildshot. Today, much of his photography is dedicated to supporting environmental and social issues he’s passionate about.

He specializes in photography and video projects of ecotravel, wildlife and the undersea realm and has traveled throughout the world on assignments including Australia, Antarctica, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Norway, and many countries in Africa. His print and digital publication credits include Audubon, Backpacker, Islands, Oceans, Outside, National Geographic, Nature’s Best, and Orion Nature Quarterly, among other national and international publications. He is the author of the book “Photographing Nature”, and represented by Tandem Stills & Motion.

Dan Cox

Thursday, May 15 / 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Friday, May 16 / 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Saturday, May 17 / 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Daniel has been documenting the world of nature and conservation for four decades. His publications include two National Geographic cover stories, hundreds of magazine covers, and a dozen books. In 2013, he was awarded the North American Nature Photographer Association’s (NANPA) Outstanding Photographer of the Year. In 2023, he received NANPA’s Environmental Impact Award for his Arctic Documentary Project for Polar Bears International.

When not on assignment, Daniel teaches photography via his company, Natural Exposures Invitational Photo Tours, with his wife, Tanya. www.naturalexposures.com

Soren Goldsmith

Thursday, May 15 / 3:00pm – 6:30pm
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Soren Goldsmith is a National Geographic Young Explorer, conservation photographer, and storyteller from Massachusetts. Since receiving a grant from the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 2021, he has protected threatened urban ecosystems through photographic storytelling.

By utilizing custom-built camera traps, he captures the elusive wildlife of New England’s cities and salt marshes, helping communities and policy makers form connections with critical yet often overlooked habitats.

His work highlights the resilience of these ecosystems, fostering awareness and inspiring conservation action. Goldsmith was selected as a 2023 winner of the National Geographic Slingshot Challenge for his work documenting an urban forest under threat of destruction.

He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in geological engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Goldsmith is inspired by the wonder of the natural world, especially urban wildernesses that are often overlooked, and envisions a future where old growth forests, wetlands, and native ecosystems thrive harmoniously with humanity.

Amy Gulick

Thursday, May 15 / 3:00pm – 4:30pm

Amy Gulick is an acclaimed photographer, writer, author, and speaker. She is the recipient of the Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award from the Alaska Conservation Foundation, the Voice of the Wild Award from the Alaska Wilderness League, the Conservation Voices Award from Washington Wild, the Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation, NANPA’s 2008 Mission Award and 2025 Environmental Impact Award, as well as the NANPA Foundation’s Philip Hyde Conservation Grant in 2008.

Amy’s award-winning books include The Salmon Way: An Alaska State of Mind and Salmon in the Trees: Life in Alaska’s Tongass Rain Forest. Her work has been featured in Smithsonian, Audubon, National Wildlife, Sierra, and Outdoor Photographer. She is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Cindy Miller Hopkins

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Cindy Miller Hopkins is a full-time travel and wildlife photographer with 25 years’ experience and over ten thousand publications to her credit. Cindy has more than 135,000 images represented by two major photo agencies, Danita Delimont and ALAMY. Her images can be seen on the pages of thousands of textbooks, travel brochures, calendars, fine art prints, consumer products, U.S. and international TV spots, magazines and newspapers. Her freelance, assignment and workshop career has taken her to all seven continents and to over 160 countries.

Some of her clients include National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Wells Fargo, American Express, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, AAA & Frommer’s travel guides, Smithsonian Journeys, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, Quark Expeditions, Silversea Expeditions, PONANT, Blount Small Ship Adventures, Chester Zoo, BING homepage images and TV’s Food Network & the Discovery Chanel. She has images on permanent display at the Museum of the Bible and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. Her 2018 shot of 5-species of penguins in one frame is thought to be the only one like it in the world and is currently the lead image in a campaign to fully protect South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Along with her stock photography business, Cindy is the American Photo Ambassador for PONANT, teaches digital photography classes and workshops, works as a prophotographer/ lecturer on expedition ships and leads photo safaris around the world. She is past president of the NANPA Foundation Board and a current Nature Photography Foundation Board member. On average, Cindy is out of the country over 200 days a year. When not traveling, which isn’t often, she lives at home with her husband in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA.

Dewitt Jones

Saturday, May 17 / 8:30am – 9:30am

Dewitt is one of the founding members of Nanpa and was honored with Nanpa’s Lifetime Achievement Award. His column in Outdoor Photographer (Basic Jones) broke new ground is exploring the spiritual nature of photography.

His 20 years as a freelancer for National Geographic cemented his reputation as a photojournalist and nature photographer. Dewitt is also a well known public speaker on creativity and vision.

Mary Ann McDonald

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Mary Ann McDonald is a NANPA Fellow and a founding member of the organization. She has emceed several summits and volunteered to contribute to both the high school and college student programs in the past. Mary Ann is a full-time professional wildlife and nature photographer who, along with her husband Joe, has taught photo workshops and lead photo tours around the world for the past 35 years.

She is the author of 29 natural history children’s books and a coffee table book on The Amish, her images have appeared in all of the major natural history publications and calendars, she recently published the Hoot Hollow Cookbook and is a contributor to the couple’s YouTube Channel.

Mary Ann has won numerous times in the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition, has named a baby mountain gorilla in the Kwita Izina Naming Ceremony in Rwanda, has participated in several conservation conferences and along with Joe was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from NANPA in 2021.

William Neill

Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 9:30am

William Neill, a resident of Yosemite since 1977, is an award-winning nature and landscape photographer. His work has been widely published in books, magazines, calendars, and posters, and his fine art prints have been collected and exhibited in museums and galleries nationally. He served as the photographer and curator at The Ansel Adams Gallery for five years and received the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams Award for conservation photography.

Neill’s credits include National Geographic, Smithsonian, Natural History, National Wildlife, Conde Nast Traveler, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Travel and Leisure, Wilderness, Sunset, Sierra, and Outside magazines. For 26 years, he wrote a regular column, On Landscape, for Outdoor Photographer magazine. Feature articles about his work have appeared in Life, Outdoor Photographer, and Communication Arts magazines. His corporate clients have included Sony Japan, Canon USA, Nike, and Nikon.

He is the photographic author of many books, including The Sense of Wonder, The Tree, By Nature’s Design, The Color of Nature, Traces of Time, Yosemite: The Promise of Wildness, Landscapes Of The Spirit, William Neill – Photographer, a Retrospective, Light on the Landscape, The Photographer’s Portfolio Development Workshop and most recently, Yosemite: Sanctuary in Stone.

Ray Pfortner

Thursday, May 15 / 3:00pm – 6:30pm
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Ray has worked in photography as an educator, stock and book agent, editor, and photographer in NYC, California and Seattle.

He teaches all ages from youth to retirees with colleges including  the University of Washington plus botanical gardens, libraries, art centers and artist organizations.

His teaching focuses on making more of a business of art for all art mediums, 2d and 3d, photography and painting to ceramics including stock photography, merchandise, licensing, exhibiting and pricing.

Ray is a NANPA Fellow and Board Member.  His photography, which is often used to advance conservation and environmental issues, is represented by Getty Images.

Ron Rosenstock

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Ron’s photographs are in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA. The Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, The International Center of Photography, New York City, The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA and numerous private collections.

He has been honored with over 100 exhibits in the United States and Europe in the past fifty years including The Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts and the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavik, Iceland. Ron has published six books of his photographs.

Presently Ron is a frequent lecturer to social, community and professional groups as well as an international photo tour leader in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Morocco, Italy, Greece, New Zealand and Vinalhaven, Maine.

Brie Stockwell

Thursday, May 15 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 9:30am

Brie Stockwell is an internationally published, award-winning nature and landscape photographer. Her current journey in photography was reignited in 2019 when she challenged herself to host a solo exhibition, showcasing her renewed passion for practice, creativity, and self-mastery.

Through her podcast, “Wild Women in Photography,” Brie highlights women in nature photography with inspiring stories and interviews that emphasize resilience and the adventurous spirit required in the field. She now offers photography workshops, retreats and mentoring, guiding other photographers to develop their skills and find their unique creative voice.

Brie’s personal photographic work often explores the desert southwest focusing on magical light and unique landscapes. Based in Austin, TX, she balances her professional life with her roles as a mother of four and a lifelong creative, enjoying activities like hiking and music. She is currently working on publishing her first ebook and continues to make meaningful connections with people through her art and public appearances. For more about Brie Stockwell and her work, visit www.wildwomanphotography.com.

Mary Virginia Swanson

[Pre-Conference] Wednesday, May 14 / 9:00am – 11:30am

Mary Virginia Swanson brings extensive knowledge and deep connections across the photography industry, offering a wide range of insights into the creation, marketing, and publication of lens-based projects.

She is the co-author, alongside Darius Himes, of Publish Your Photography Book, now in its 3rd edition (Radius Books, 2023). A highly respected educator and advisor, Swanson’s teachings have guided countless photographers through the complex process of bringing their work to publication.

Roy Toft

Friday, May 16 / 8:00am – 9:30am
Saturday, May 17 / 9:00am – 9:30am 

Roy started working as a full-time wildlife photographer in 1991. Spending 6-9 months in the field every year producing natural history content for magazines, books, etc. Around 2000, Roy started leading photo safaris around the world to photography enthusiasts as well as continuing his assignment and stock work.

In 2005, Roy became a founding fellow in the International League of Conservation Photographers. This elite group of top professionals combine their talents to further conservation causes around the globe. Roy’s images have been published widely in popular magazines like National Geographic, Discover, Smithsonian, Audubon, etc.

His coffee table book “Osa…where the Rainforest meets the Sea” is a wonderful tribute to an area in Costa Rica where Roy owned property and has been visiting for over 30 years.

His new book “Wild Ramona” is dedicated to showcase local wildlife found around his property in Southern California. Roy makes his home in the beautiful boulders of Ramona, California with his wife Stella.

Sonia Wasco

Saturday, May 17 / 8:00am – 10:00am 
Saturday, May 17 / 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Sonia S. Wasco is owner of Grant Heilman Photography Stock Photo library specializing in American agriculture, Natural Science including a significant Horticulture and Wildlife collection, and related Lifestyle and Travel photography.  Sonia has over 40 years’ experience in the stock photo business and is past president of Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), now Digital Media Licensing Association, having served on their Board for more over 20 years. She is the recipient of DMLA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is an active member on several Conservation organization Boards.

Sonia is a frequent speaker at industry events and has been a reviewer and presenter at past NANPA Summits, PACA/DMLA International Conferences, ASPP events, and PhotoPlus Expos.  She also serves as a Trustee on the Nature Photography Foundation Board where she currently serves as President. In her free time she loves to spend time outside in nature, walking with her black lab and traveling to multiple continents with Nature Photography friends.