Steven David Miller

Natural Wanders....
exploring the natural world through photography

Wander the Galleries Stock List
 Photo Credits
(with covers etc.		 Photography Field Notes
Wander the Articles
(lots of tearsheets)
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There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not Man the less, but Nature more.
-Lord Byron


About Steve

My goal as a photographer is to capture that perfect moment on film when everything comes together--light, background, subject, and pose--to form a perfect composition of nature’s beauty. I love the saturated colors of nature: of fish, of birds, of flowers. As a former art teacher, I realize that nature has all the elements of art: nature is art. The variety of colors, shapes, patterns, and movement—all of these attract me to nature’s endless array of subjects.

I grew up in the 1950s and 60s in California when our visual world was captured on film as never before. Photos record the events of our lives--and our times--in a dramatic and poignant way. As a boy, I remember rushing over to my grandmother's house to study each new issue of Life magazine. These images had a tremendous impact and influence on me, making my world a visual one. National Geographic also fed my interest in images, and fostered an early love of nature.

Another great influence on me was Jacques Cousteau and his television documentaries. When I was twelve, my father bought me a mask and snorkel and took me snorkeling at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Despite this being the worst place on the planet to snorkel, I was instantly hooked. I wanted to be a diver--and I wanted to photograph what I was seeing. A steady diet of nature documentaries, along with regular trips to the San Francisco Zoo and expeditions to look for salamanders along Skyline Blvd, cemented my interested in wildlife and nature.

While attending San Francisco State University, I studied film-making, photography, music, and the arts, followed by a post-graduate degree in teaching. As a young teacher, I went to Australia to work for two years...and stayed. Teaching made me aware of how we all start out with an innate appreciation of nature, and I wanted to nurture that through my images. I turned to still photography, spending all my spare time taking photos. Once I built up a stock of photos, I signed up with a number of picture libraries around the world including Animals Animals/Earth Scenes in North America, Nature Picture Library in Britain, Nature Production in Japan, Auscape International in Australia, Argus Photoland in Hong Kong & China, and Foto Natura in Benelux & Germany.
I am now a full-time photographer.

For a period of ten years we lived and worked in Florida, mostly due to its natural beauty and abundant wildlife. However, Australia was never far from our thoughts, and in the end, it drew us back. We are now based Downunder full-time, living and working as we travel around this fascinating country. Our most recent project was a series of four 4WD touring guides for Universal Publishers.

Thank you for visiting Natural Wanders.
Steven David Miller