John Slonina is an award-winning professional nature photographer, tour leader, and speaker who is devoted to the conservation of wild places and wild things. His work has been published in numerous books, calendars, and postcards. His photographs are featured in private collections and galleries throughout the world.

Growing up in New England, John’s passion for wild places led to a childhood rich in outdoor adventures. He has been studying and photographing nature for over 40 years. He believes that a personal connection to nature is necessary to increase a person's desire to protect a particular species and habitat.

With a degree in Business Management, John decided to change course and align his career with his passion—nature photography. He began offering photo tours over 13 years ago and enjoys teaching and sharing his knowledge of the outdoors with others. He finds it rewarding to watch the excitement of his participants as they see a particular animal or natural phenomena for the first time.

When he is not out photographing, John enjoys kayaking, watching wildlife, hiking, snowshoeing, and spending time with family and friends.

Jenny Bowlden is a professional nature photographer with over 20 years of experience and a strong focus on birds, wildlife, and landscapes.

She has been co-leading photo tours with Slonina Photography alongside John Slonina for several years, guiding small groups across North America, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton, the Southwest, Florida, the Canadian Rockies, and Alaska. In the field, she works closely with participants to help them understand light, behavior, and composition through a practical, hands-on approach.

Jenny holds a degree in Graphic Design and has over 25 years of experience in visual design and post-processing, working extensively in Photoshop and Lightroom. Her design background continues to influence how she approaches both photography and teaching.

www.jennybowlden.photography

John Chumack is an Astronomer, Astrophotographer, and Director of The Chumack Observatories.

Featured on the front cover of Time Magazine, and with over 500 of his images published in such notable periodicals as National Geographic, Science, Astronomy, Discover, Smithsonian Air & Space, and Newsweek, John has taken astrophotography to the realm of an art form.

While you will find his work in fine art exhibitions, you'll also find John busy as a serious astronomer contributing to the Minor Planet Center and studying lunar transient phenomena. He periodically works on Comet Projects (Ulysses & Deep Impact) for NASA, who regularly publishes his work.

With The Chumack Observatories located in both Dayton and Yellow Springs, Ohio and a slew of remote telescopes in New Mexico, he is always imaging objects and capturing current events in the night sky. John also specializes in Solar Imaging, and thus monitors sunspots and aurora activity regularly and has captured dozens of aurora events on film and digital over the last 25 years.

John is an active member of the Miami Valley Astronomical Society & AAVSO, and helps to fund some of his research through images sales at http://www.galacticimages.com

As a co-leader alongside John Slonina, John enjoys teaching participants astrophotography and how to photograph the northern lights in the Alaska Aurora workshop.