By Mike Tedesco, Pro Photo Community

His earliest memory dates back to when he was three years old, holding his father's hand as they walked through the beautiful scenery in Yellowstone National Park. "The irony is incredible as I can remember my Dad and I walking through the campground and I was fascinated with the nature and wildlife surrounding me." It's clear that John Shaw had a passion for the outdoors from his early childhood. Growing up with parents who enjoyed being outdoors, John's family purchased some land surrounded with forest land and streams outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when he was 10 years old. "I was in heaven there. I loved going out and taking pictures of the birds, trees, whatever was around me."

John received his very own Argus camera—a very popular camera in its day—from his parents while he was in junior high school. "I wish my current gear could be that tough. Not long after I got it, I had it with me on a canoe trip when I turned the canoe over. The camera actually sat in the river overnight, but I fished it out the next day and emptied the water, put a new roll of film in and was back shooting immediately."

Shaw didn't start out his professional career as a photographer, however. John completed his bachelor's degree in philosophy, and then went on to achieve a masters in American literature and comparative religion. He then took on a full-time teaching position at the University of Wisconsin but soon realized this wasn't his passion. "I remember going in to my office one day, locking the door, and thinking to myself 'I think I have made a life mistake.'" John continued to teach for a few years as he wasn't quite sure what options he had for a career.

While in school, however, John had been shooting images of nature and wildlife and began selling some of his images to National Wildlife magazine. Since he'd had some success with that and knew he had a passion for photography, John made the risky decision to give up his teaching job and kicked off a full-time career as a nature photographer. "I lived in Michigan up near Ontario, Canada so I began selling some of my images to the Ontario Naturalist magazine while I still continued to sell to National Wildlife. I remember receiving $75 for a cover image and thinking that was a huge sale!"

What propelled John from being a run of the mill photographer to being a well known name in the industry was when he started writing about his and other people's photography. "I was asked to fill out some questionnaires about my images for a book, and the publisher recognized my talent for both taking and writing about images." Once John started writing professionally his business tripled in the first year.

In the late 1990s, John had been doing a lot of work with Nikon, and they sent him his first digital cameras, the D1 and the Coolpix 950. As a nature photographer during a time when magazines weren't accepting digital images yet, it took some time before John became a full time digital photographer. "When the D1X was released, I really became excited about digital, but most of my clients were still only accepting film. As more of the magazines began accepting and even preferring digital images, Nikon released the D2X and I immediately sold off all of my film gear, and I have no interest in ever going back."

Shaw has found himself trying anything and everything in the digital realm as he feels he has so much more freedom. Back in the film days, he'd always think about cost when deciding what to photograph and how to photograph it. "Now I think to myself, ‘What would happen if I was driving down the freeway and held the shutter? What if I put the camera on a swing? What if I rolled up the neck strap, tripped the shutter and let the strap go?'" These are things he never would have done 10 years ago. He also feels that digital has brought the appropriate focus back to the end goal of a print. "Back in the Ansel Adams days the negative was the score, the print was the performance. In the slide era, everyone thought the slide was the finished product but it really wasn't. Now with RAW, people realize the file is merely a starting point."

In addition to John's photography and writing, he also teaches a number of field workshops in an effort to help aspiring enthusiasts and professionals. "One of the main points I try to drive home with anyone I am teaching is to slow down and think about what you are photographing and keep working until you find that one good image. People are in too big of a hurry to snap the shot and move on. I always tell them that Photoshop can't make a bad picture good, but rather a bad picture big." John considers his day successful if he comes out with one high quality image that he can be proud of.