Tom Wilson began in photogrphy at age 40. His work stems from a life long love of nature and the outdoors. He has worked extensively on the Chattahoochee River providing images for the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, Georgia River Network and The Nature Conservancy. His work has appeared in Blue Ridge Country Magazine, The Atlantan Magazine and on the cover of Southern Exposure Magazine also in calendars and books. Tom's work also appeears on numerous web sites including the National Park Service site for the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area and the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. His work was selected by the National Park Service to be the centerpiece of the Chattahoochee River "Healthy Parks" campaign in 2005 and 2006 appearing on Buses and Billboards throughout the Atlanta Area as well as on the official Park Service Brochure for the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.
Tom became very involved in the Roswell Photographic Society in Roswell, Ga. serving as Club Vice President in 2002 and Club President in 2003. He has been recognized twice as Photogrpher of the Year by the Roswell Photo Society and his image "Chattahoochee Rowers" was selected as Photo of the Year by the Club in 2003. Tom has won numerous contests incuding a First Place in the Better Photo.com contest, Grand Prize in the Nikon "Publish Your Passion Photo Essay Contest" twice and Image of the year for the Travel Photographer's Network in 2003. He works extensively to document natural areas of the Atlanta urban and suburban community.
Tom learned photography from the excellent books that are available from John Shaw, Jim Zuckerman, Galen Rowell, and others as well as studying the images of his favorite photographers such as Eliot Porter, Jim Brandenburg, Stephen Dalton and others. Tom also joined a Photo Club and participated heavily in Photo Reviews and field trips.
Tom is a believer that the best place to do nature photography is in your own back yard. Tom felt he could not exhaust the possibilities for images within 250 miles of home in his entire lifetime and decided to concentrate on finding hidden gems close to home. Tom also believes that nature photographers should be nature advocates and use their cameras to protect and preserve that which they photograph. To that end Tom has donated much of his work to groups such as the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, The National Park Service, Davidson Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve, The Nature Conservancy, Georgia River Network, Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway and others.
The Photograph on this page was taken by a friend on the Summit of Mt Adams in New Hampshire in February of 1997.
