The primary purpose of the NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST is to share information about nature and wildlife photography and thereby to promote the growth and development of its members.

Our meetings are open to all interested photographers.
Membership in NPPNW is automatic upon conference registration.

A Brief History of NPPNW

By our founder, Larry Rosenkoetter

We sat on our idea for several years thinking it probably would not work. Finally in desperation, we decided to give it a try. We adopted the strategy of pretending that the Great Plains Nature Photographers (GPNP) existed. We knew of two biologists who conducted nature photography workshops in Kansas. They liked the GPNP idea and were willing to share the names of participants from their workshops. We contacted Kodak and they were willing to send us one of their ambassadors to our first meeting at Bethany College in Lindsborg Kansas. We managed to have almost 100 participants at this inaugural meeting. Participants were enthusiastic and readily agreed that we should continue with future meetings. Our second meeting was held at the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita Kansas. Canon provided us with George Lepp as our invited speaker. We had almost 200 participants. The enthusiasm was contagious with participants volunteering to do everything required to keep our biannual meetings going.

At the turn of the century Sharon and I moved to Oregon State University. We dealt with our sadness of leaving so many GPNP friends by resolving to do what we had done in Kansas in our new home in the Northwest. We again pretended that there was an organization. This time we named it the Nature Photographers of the Pacific Northwest (NPPNW). We planned a first meeting at Oregon State University for the Spring of 2000. Bill Silker from Maine was our first invited speaker under the sponsorship of Fuji. The large number of camera clubs in Oregon and Washington were crucial in the promotion of our meetings. Two members of the Albany Camera Club saw through what we were doing and said there is no NPPNW, it is just you and Sharon. We confessed that they were correct. Harold and Barb Marx immediately jumped in and began doing what needed to be done. Barb even baked treats for that first meeting with more than 150 participants. Again the enthusiasm level of participants indicated that there was a substantial need for an organization like the NPPNW. More often than not, we were able to find corporate sponsors to provide us with a nationally prominent speaker. Our speakers included John & Barbara Gerlach,  Darrell Gulin, Frans Lanting, George Lepp, Art Morris, Moose Peterson, Lewis Kemper,  Joe McDonald, Brenda Tharp, and Art Wolf among others. Meeting attendance soon reached 200 to 300.

We rotated our meeting sites across three geographic areas. Area one was central Oregon, area two was the Portland\Vancouver area, and area three was central Washington. More than a dozen colleges across the Northwest hosted our meetings. At each college we found a department or club that would cohost our meeting and provide an auditorium at a modest cost. In turn we opened our meetings to the students, faculty and staff of the host institution. Over the years nearly 1000 individuals became members of the NPPNW by attending one or more of our meetings. We adopted the strategy of declaring that if you attended one of our meetings, you were a member for life. Approximately six weeks and again three weeks before each meeting, members would be contacted and asked to register and send a small check to cover the club’s expenses if they were coming. From the start we resolved that no one would be turned away because they could not provide the registration fee.

With time our meetings became more complex and required an even larger number of volunteers. Bob Johnson said that the NPPNW needed a website and volunteered to be the webmaster for almost a decade. Then Colleen Easley stepped forward and greatly polished our website. During the Covid 19 pandemic the idea to Zoom broadcast  our meetings was born. The enthusiasm level of NPPNW members was exceedingly high and met the challenge for the many volunteers required by the expanded scope of our meetings. It should be noted that at each of our meetings there is an awesome, collective knowledge of all the equipment used in nature photography. Likewise, at each of our meetings there is a collective cyclopic knowledge of the most promising locations for nature photography in the US and beyond. Members have always been willing to share their expertise and help one another  grow their skill levels.

 However, by the time of our 20^th birthday two problems appeared. Corporate sponsors were shifting their advertising monies to the Internet and away from sponsoring guest speakers. The second major change was that community college enrollment was especially reduced by Covid and student numbers did not return to their pre-covid levels. Due to the loss of tuition, community colleges were no longer willing to co-sponsor our meetings and provide their auditoriums at a greatly discounted price. Consequently the strategy that had served us so well for two decades was no longer viable.

Thankfully a new group of leaders has stepped forward to replace me and they are in the process of planning a new future. We thank them for their work and pray that  the NPPNW will continue to provide a bright future for nature photographers in the Pacific Northwest.