Jim Heupel pursues his life-long love of photography and nature, combining the two into a second career as a free-lance nature photographer. During his youth and subsequent military career, Heupel traveled extensively throughout the United States. He has lived in Asia and Europe, and traveled to every continent, as well as above the Arctic Circle and below the Antarctic Circle. Throughout these travels he has continued to photograph, savoring all aspects of nature. Although his primary wildlife love has been watching and photographing Alaskan Coast Brown Bears (the largest of Grizzly Bears), a photographic safari in 2008 to Kenya – his first time on the African continent – was a dream come true.
“Whether it is watching white puffy clouds or dark menacing storm clouds, sitting in a forest or standing by the seashore, looking out from mountain top vistas or desert floors, being out in nature rejuvenates my soul. I love wildlife of all types, but what I enjoy most is watching and photographing the wildlife in their natural habitats. Africa provided this opportunity on a grand scale, especially with so many different species, environments, and conditions.” With regard to his wildlife images, he says, “Part of the challenge for me is to find wildlife in different poses from what is often seen, to catch them in tender times, or to show their beauty whether it be in the colors, gracefulness, sheer power and ruggedness, or their artistic poses.”
Heupel has studied and traveled with Arthur Morris, acknowledged to be the premier bird photographer in America and one of Canon’s original “Explorers of Light”, and Alain Briot, well-known for his photography of the Southwest United States. He has studied digital printing under Charles Cramer and Michael Reichmann. His images are in private collections in Europe, Africa, and the United States. Heupel is a member of the North American Nature Photographers Association and the Texas Photographic Society.