Introduction & Welcome
Welcome to the Nature's Portraits, photography by Tom Conway website. My goals in establishing this site are to:

Thanks for stopping and don't forget to sign the Guestbook before you leave!

Background and Training

During a career spanning the corporate and non-profit sectors and continuing with service as a fund-raising consultant, I found myself drawn to photography. Beginning with birthday parties, sports events and graduations I learned the basics of exposure, composition and field techniques. However, my primary interests were not in portraits of children, weddings or athletic competitors. Rather I chose to use lenses as a means of capturing the beauty, complexity and grandeur in forests, coastal areas, parks and gardens. My work seeks to encourage viewers to frequent, personally explore and preserve these areas.

Some fifteen years ago, I began to grow interested in gardening. Experimenting with a few perennials and roses I experienced the joys, toils and pleasures of gardening in the Midwest—clay soil, poor drainage, high humidity, black spot and more deer each year! Today I've narrowed my focus to old roses, modern roses, perennials and flowering shrubs. Gardening has made me a better photographer. Garden design is very similar to photographic composition—the "bones" of a garden must be properly laid out and executed to have the most impact.

Although basically self-taught, the following authors, designers, illustrators and photographers were among those that most influenced me and contributed to my education and growth as a photographer: Leonie Bell, Richard Brown, Derek Fell, Allen Lacy, Yuan Li, Freeman Patterson, Rod Planck, Vivian Russell, Roy Strong, and Charles Weckler.

I am currently a member of the Cincinnati Nature Center, Garden Writers Association of America, and the O-K-I Regional Greenspace Initiative.