Jay Dickman

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist and National Geographic photographer,  Jay’s career has spanned a multitude of experiences, including three months living in a stone-age village in Papua New Guinea, a week under the Arctic ice in a nuclear attack sub (both these for National Geographic), and aboard a sinking boat on the Amazon.  With more than twenty-five assignments for the National Geographic Society, Jay has taught workshops for Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Media Workshops, Photography at the Summit and American Photo Mentor Series. Jay and his wife, Becky, are founders of the FirstLight Workshop series, having hosted multiple workshops in Spain, Scotland, France, Italy, Namibia, Mongolia, the Chesapeake, and Wyoming.  FirstLight was noted in American Photo magazine as one of the top 12 photographic workshops.

Working with National Geographic Expeditions, Jay has been on more than 60 trips as the “National Geographic Expert.”  These have included several “Around the World by Private Jet”, “Central & South America by Private Jet,” “Africa by Private Jet,”trips to Svalbard and the High Arctic, Cape of Norway, British Isles, Northwest Passage, Dalmatian Coast, along with multiple trips to Baja, Galapagos, and Antarctica. Jay traveled to the West Coast of Africa and South Georgia, the Falklands and the Antarctic, and has led National Geographic Adventures, which include: “Walking with the Maasai,” “Tanzania Photo Adventure”, “Namibia Culture and Wildlife Adventure” “Sri Lanka Photo Expedition,” “Tuscany Photo Adventure,” and “Japan Photo Adventure.”  Working with National Geographic, Jay has also presented more than 15 lectures for the Society.

Jay was cited as one of  Travel + Leisure Magazine’s “Ten Fascinating People You Can Travel With in 2017”

As a working pro, Jay has been an Olympus Visionary since 2003, a Lexar “Elite” Photographer and a member of the Singh Ray group of professional photographers. He is co-author of the best-selling book, “Perfect Digital Photography”, published by McGraw-Hill.

Jeff Vanuga

Jeff Vanuga is based in Dubois, Wyoming and specializes in both advertising and editorial media. His work has been published world wide in magazines and major advertising campaigns. 

Some of his credits include National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Travel Holiday, People Magazine, NBC News, The Guardian, Outside, BBC Wildlife, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick, Audubon, Sierra Club, Time, Natural History, Smithsonian, Discovery, Wyoming Wildlife, Outside, New York Times, Random House, Apple Computer, Ford, Nissan, Frontier Airlines, Early Winters, Patagonia, Wyoming Division of Tourism and thousands more in magazines, advertising, books and calendars around the globe. 

He has won major international awards including:

• – First place in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and the National Wildlife Photographic Competition
• – Showcase top ten winner in the North American Nature Photography Competition in 2010 and 2011
• – Showcase top ten winner in Nature’s Best Photography Competition in 2008, 2010 and 2011
• – Placed 1st in the 2015 Olympus Global Open Competition Places to Preserve out of a – field of 120,000 submissions
• – Recently his book entitled “Fordor’s Compass Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks” took a silver medal in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication from a field of 1,161 entries. 
• – Photo District News featured Jeff as one of their top 50 States Photographers and he has hosted TV shows on nature photography for the Outdoor Life Channel and Nature’s Best Magazine.