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Jonathan Steele: Lighting the Night

Jonathan Steele calls himself the tree whisperer. It’s not because he talks to the greenery, but because he is the person who hangs the Christmas lights on the tops of trees on the Ivoryton Green for Illuminations, the annual holiday light show sponsored by the Ivoryton Alliance. The lights, now up, will salute the holiday season until the beginning of the New Year.

Jonathan earned his nickname because of his height. He is 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and has a 12-foot extension pole to hang up lights on branches beyond his reach.

He is not responsible, however, for the 85-foot tree in the center of the green with the 30,000 lights needed to decorate it. This year the Essex Fire Department took care of those lights with an extended ladder.

Professionally, Jonathan, who lives in Ivoryton, is a photographer specializing in wildlife and nature photos. He also gives workshops on nature photography and leads groups of amateur photographers on expeditions to capture shots of animals in the wild. Many of his photography expeditions are in the western United States where his subjects include moose, elk, bighorn sheep, and grizzly bears.

He says research, learning about where animals have been sighted, and preparation are key elements in wildlife photography. But he adds other qualities play a part.

“When it comes to photography, patience is a virtue,” he says. “Luck is also a part of it, but research improves your chances of being lucky.”

Jonathan says one of his most memorable experiences came on a deserted road in Grand Teton National Park. He saw a lone pronghorn antelope in front of him. She did not run away; instead, she lay down in the road. As Jonathan looked, he realized he saw not one head but two. The antelope was giving birth.

He has a picture of the mother nuzzling the newborn, standing on its wobbly legs.

“It was about five minutes after it was born, the first time the mother had seen the baby in front of her,” he says. “I witnessed that and people who have never have had that experience can now witness it through me.”

He has also gotten shots in Grand Teton of a grizzly bear known as 399, the number given to her in an ongoing grizzly bear study. She famous enough to have her own Wikipedia entry as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts. Jonathan was in the right place at the right time, on the side of a road, as 399 walked along with her four cubs some 15 feet from him. He admits he was too close but had thought she would turn into a nearby field.

“I stood on an embankment and then she walked right past me,” he recalls.

Jonathan always has bear spray, good to about 30 feet, but says he has never had to discharge it. He points out that even with spray, caution is necessary.

“You have to be careful. A grizzly runs at 35 miles an hour; it can go 100 yards in about 6 seconds,” he says.

Jonathan’s best-selling photograph is not an animal shot. It is a picture of the Essex Steam Train barreling ahead through a snowy landscape. Through his website, he has gotten orders for the image from as far away as Europe and Australia. He recently got a request for 25 cards with the photograph from England.

For the past three years, Jonathan has also been the photographer for the Ivoryton Playhouse. He takes photos at dress rehearsal, looks at what he has, and then shows the ones he has selected to Executive Director Jacqueline Hubbard.

Jonathan has free run of the playhouse during the rehearsal with just two exceptions: “I don’t stand in front of the director or the playwright,” he says.

In photographing at the playhouse, Jonathan says, he is conscious of mood, atmosphere, and scenery.

“You look behind to see what’s near. You don’t want a tree growing out of someone’s head,” he says.

Jonathan got his first camera, along with a developing and enlarging kit, when he was eight or nine years old. From the start, he loved photography and had a career plan.

“I wanted to be a National Geographic photographer,” he recalls. “I flipped over the pictures, seeing the world documented like that.”

In his 20s, Jonathan did a photography course but the reality of earning a living intervened and for many years he was a tooling engineer. Some six years ago, thanks to seeing and photographing a moose in northern New England, he decided he wanted to fulfill the childhood dream of professional photography.

“I still had an eye,” he says.

People tell him they have great cameras but he points out the camera is just a tool. For him the photographer’s eye, the knowledge of how to compose a picture, is key.

“You don’t ask a chef after a great meal what stove he uses,” he says.

When he is not taking pictures, Jonathan for many years has been a serious cyclist but more recently has cut back his riding.

“The last two or three years the roads have been crazy,” he says.

He hasn’t cut back on his favorite snack, jelly beans. He says he has loved them ever since he was a youngster, with one exception.

“The only ones I don’t like are licorice,” he says.

For the past five years, Jonathan has volunteered for Ivoryton Illuminations.

“It’s fun; it’s a good group and it’s something people enjoy,” he says. “It’s a good feeling to be doing something for the town.”

To see a portfolio of Jonathan’s photographs, visit jonsteelephotography.com.