Joe Stermitz

Although I have been an avid amateur photographer for more than 50 years, only recently have I been able to pursue my passion more-or-less full time. In 2017 my wife and I sold our home, disposed of all of our belongings, and began traveling the world in a four wheel drive with a pop-up camper. As I like to say, “Our home may be small, but our backyard is big.”

I look for images which explore the unique relationship between light, land, and life. As a passionate landscape and nature photographer I live for those special moments when the sun dips to the horizon and the forms of land converge with light to construct a dramatic visual tableau.

As much as I enjoy those “golden” moments, far more often it is something or someone interesting which sparks my creative fire: a crumbling doorway on a back street of otherwise “boujee” San Miguel de Allende; an abandoned car inexplicably moldering in the forest on San Juan Island; a young teenage Wayuu kite boarder soaring into the sky and into the ranks of the world’s best in remote, windswept, Guajira. At these times I have few expectations for capturing a dramatic image, but when I do come away with something memorable, I gain a deeper appreciation for the remarkable diversity in this amazing world.

Winner of "commended" award in 2021 TPOTY.com Green Planet category