Keynote Speaker: NANPA Summit 2025
© George Rose
portfolios.williamneill.com
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.
The Long and Winding Road to a Creative Life
Thursday, May 15 / 11:00am – 12:00pm / Keynote Room – Canyon II
I will tell the story of my long career and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I want to share how my curiosity and passion for nature have fueled my creative growth and explorations through the decades. The images I will present include an in-depth look at my Landscapes of the Spirit photographs; my Antarctic Dreams series; a Black and White portfolio entitled Meditations in Monochrome; a portfolio featuring nature’s pattern called By Nature’s Design; my impressionistic camera motion work Impressions of Light; and of course, a collection of my Yosemite photographs. Developing these cohesive, thematic bodies of work has helped me greatly to express what I want to say with my photographs. Books projects have been instrumental to my career, and I will share my insights on the world of book publishing.
My immersion in nature, which began so long ago, helped me look within to find purpose in my life. I became confident that my vision was worthy of my experiences and worth sharing. I’ve incorporated the lessons learned in Yosemite into my daily life, making a daily practice of seeing the beauty that surrounds us, no matter where I am.