Entries by John Launstein

Josiah Featured in ROM Magazine

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This fall the editors of ROM Magazine (the official quarterly magazine of the Royal Ontario Museum) reached out to us about doing a special feature on Josiah and his wildlife photography for their upcoming Winter 2016 Issue. The museum was the first in Canada to open the 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibit, which features the top-100 awarded images from the competition. As Josiah has two images in the exhibit, they thought it would be nice for their readers to get to know our young wildlife photographer a bit better.

2015 Favourite Moments (and the pictures that came from them)

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2015 has been one incredible year for us in the Launstein family! It’s certainly been exciting to see the recognition and awards that Jenaya and Josiah received in the past year, but much more important than the accolades are the moments spent together in the field.

After transitioning back to photography full-time at the beginning of the year, I (John) have been able to lead us on a lot more photography adventures than ever before!

In fact, our first photo adventure together came on just the second day of the year, and it proved to be a richly rewarding one for Josiah!

Jenaya Awarded for 2nd Time in Nature’s Best

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It’s our pleasure to announce that Jenaya has been awarded in the 2015 Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice International Photography Awards. This is her second win in this competition, having been named the Youth Photographer of the Year in 2013.

This year’s awarded image was taken outside of Kamloops, British Columbia on a photography trip looking for Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep (formerly known as California bighorns), a species-at-risk. We were rewarded in finding a great group of rams, and Jenaya, Josiah and I (John), headed out–and up–in search of good angles for some animals-in-their-environment images of them.

Jenaya & Josiah awarded in Por el Planeta

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This past summer Jenaya and Josiah both received a pretty exciting email from none other than acclaimed conservation photographer, Cristina Mittermeier. I (John) was in town with Josiah when the email came through, telling us Josiah had been awarded in Por el Planeta, and I reached for my phone to share the news with Jenaya only to read an incoming message from her saying, “Guess what?!?!”

It turns out both my talented young photographers had made it through the thousands of entries (28,578 to be precise) to each have an image awarded as Specially Commended in this prestigious and important competition.

Josiah awarded in 2015 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

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We are so excited to share that Josiah has had two images awarded in the oldest and most prestigious wildlife photography competitions in the world, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition put on by the Natural History Museum (U.K.) and BBC Wildlife.

This year’s competition saw over 42,000 images submitted from 96 countries, and the competition in the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year categories has never been stronger. This is Josiah’s second year entering the competition, and he has had multiple images selected for the final round both times, but we were certainly not expecting him to end up with two of the top 100 images!

Jenaya’s “Owls in the Wind” Receiving International Recognition

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On a beautiful July evening in 2013, Jenaya squeezed the shutter release on one of her most iconic images to date…

Photographed just a few kilometers from our home in Pincher Creek, Alberta, “Owls in the Wind” is a great example of Jenaya’s ability to craft a compelling scene as opposed to just snapping a picture of wildlife. After trying multiple camera/lens combinations, she settled on one that allowed her to position two massive wind turbines at the edges of the composition, making a powerful statement and adding to the theme of the prevalent winds in our corner of the world. The weathered old granary, leaning heavily from the years of being buffeted from the west, adds both interest and drama, and serves as the perfect perch for three Great Horned Owls.

Tribute To a Mother

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We’ve been waiting for just the right moment to launch our Launstein Imagery Blog, but in the midst of all our planning something happened we hadn’t foreseen.

Just over a week ago, we lost a very special mom. Specifically, a female fox we had photographed and come to know and love over the past several years in Waterton Lakes National Park.