The Biology of Photography with Nathan St. Andre on Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 7pm, Lone Tree Civic Center. Join remotely via Zoom. Arrive 30 minutes early for social time, to visit with your fellow club members and meet some new folks. The program is 7pm – 9pm.
Nathan will dive into some of the biology of vision, cameras and perception. Which might include
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Nature’s Original Sensor: The human eye dynamically adapts to high-contrast scenes instantly, using specialized cells and the visual cortex to interpret the world.
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The Mechanical Eye: Digital cameras use silicon sensors and glass lenses to capture light, operating under strict physical laws that require balancing exposure, focus, and shutter speed.
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The Perception Gap: Cameras often struggle to match human sight, such as capturing a sunset’s full dynamic range or adjusting white balance the way our brains do.
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Computational Assistance: Modern cameras use smart software to mimic biological processing, handling tasks like noise reduction and exposure blending automatically.
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Art Meets Reality: Photography bridges the gap between mechanical capture and subjective human experience, turning physical light into an emotional story.
Nathan St. Andre is a fine art landscape and nature photographer based in Southern Utah. He has been photographing for over 10 years, though his journey into becoming a full time landscape photographer has been filled with many bumps and turns. Before he was a landscape photographer he was a biologist for multiple state and federal agencies where he worked with endangered fish, reptiles, birds and their habitats. For his graduate work he worked with fish in Lake Powell and the impact of invasive species. His research was eventually published in multiple academic journals. If you want to see his research you can follow the links below.
- Lichen study I helped in: Nature
- Effects of Quagga Mussels: Hydrobiologia
- Fish Trophic Niche before quagga muscles invasion: Western North American Naturalist
Post graduate school Nathan made a shift towards the arts where he now pursues fine art photography though he still stays connected to his biological background. Currently he sells his work through out the west and has images in homes and offices around the world. His clients include regular folks to high end collectors. In addition to selling images, he does the following: public presentations on photography, nature and creativity, photography workshops, and much more. His work has been featured in Utah Life Magazine and he has given multiple presentations on Nature Photography Collective. He has been interviewed on F-Stop Collaborate and Listen.
Currently Nathan is beginning a new journey as a Workshop Leader for Nature Photography Collective where he leads workshops across the United States. Due to his background in biology he takes an multi-factored approach to teaching including lessons on composition, art and the natural world around the guests. Due to his diverse background he generally speaks about biology, geology and slow forces that create the stunning landscapes before the guests.
If you want to get involved with Nathan’s workshop please hop over to Nature Photography Collective and look into joining him on one of his workshops.
