Tom Carlisle
Compass Points Photography


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Tom Carlisle's Bio

Biography - Tom spent four years teaching science in high school and twenty-two years as an environmental scientist, consultant and contractor. He began taking photographs with a 35mm camera to document the sports car races he attended in the 60's and 70's and he's been an outdoor photographer ever since.

Tom is a self taught photographer. He believes that to be a good outdoor and nature photographer you must: 

  • Know your subject. That means becoming a better naturalist, historian or "fan" of the subject.

  • Prepare your self technically with the right equipment and skills since the use of your equipment in the field needs to be second nature.

  • Prepare yourself  for the challenges of field work.

  • Be sufficiently visionary and creative to find subjects and to compose photos in the middle of a sometimes cluttered landscape.

  • Upgrade and maintain your skills through in-the-field self-development and in-the-classroom continuing education.

To that end, Tom maintains an extensive library of field guides, maps and lists of web-based resources that he uses to plan field activities and to document images.

He uses Nikon 35mm film and digital equipment and up-to-date computer-based image management tools.

He's moved beyond being a "fair weather" photographer by developing the perseverance and acquiring the equipment to get up early, stay out late, get to the subject and endure the elements.

He's developed an extensive library of nature, wildlife, fine art and documentary photography books to stimulate his creativity and vision and he's developed the patience and calmness in the field to learn to "see."

Finally, Tom's taken advantage of educational and professional opportunities to learn from photographers and photo professionals like John Shaw, Art Wolfe, Rod Planck, Gary Braasch, Tom Vezo, Bill Fortney, Rob Sheppard, Lewis Kemper,  and Sam Garcia.

Tom's goal is for every picture he takes to tell a story or evoke an emotional response in the viewer. His training as a biologist and teacher combined with his experience as an environmental scientist and photographer allows him to recognize subjects and create images that meet that goal. Sometimes the goal is met by a photograph of a detail in nature, sometimes by a well-timed photograph of a natural event and sometimes by a simple but extremely relevant documentary photograph.

In the few years that Tom has been a professional photographer, he has accumulated a stock image file of over 9,000 high-quality images. His photos have been published in National Geographic Traveler, Louisiana Conservationist, on several web sites and in several multimedia presentations. One of his images was selected in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Centennial calendar competition to be the December photo in the 2005 National Wildlife Refuge System calendar.

Tom is a member of the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) and Chair of the NANPA Environment Committee. He is also an affiliate of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP.)

For more information about the images available in Tom's stock files, go to the Feedback/Contact page and call or send Tom an e-mail.

                   

 


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