Ellen Anon

Ellen is a an internationally acclaimed photographer, writer, and speaker who specializes in expressive photography. Her images, most often based on nature, are sometimes realistic and sometimes abstract but always designed to elicit emotional reactions from the viewer. Her goal is to go beyond the ordinary in ways that hopefully stimulate others to pause and appreciate some of the beauty and wonder of our earth to help balance some of the stress of everyday life. Ellen has won recognition in numerous worldwide competitions including the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competitions. She has co-authored 9 books on photography and digital processing as well as numerous articles and video training materials and is currently developing a series of online photography courses based on her “See It” book. She is proud to be a member of the SanDisk Extreme Team/ Western Digital Ambassador.

I love my SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB SD cards.

They’re fast and reliable and that matters a lot to me.

With nature photography you often only get one chance

to get the image with all the elements, especially the lighting,

weather, and any wildlife, cloud formations, etc.

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Ellen Anon

Explore Ellen Anon's Work

Behind the Scenes with Ellen Anon

What defines your style as a photographer?

I think I tend to have a fairly graphic style often with elements of simplicity, trying to create images that offer a bit of mental escape.

What kind of equipment do you use (especially lenses)?

How much planning is involved in your work?

Do you get better photos from setup and wait for action to "happen" or get shots on the move?

What was your best and your worst experience as a photographer?

The worst experience is easy – I had one of the early Canon digital cameras, that back then cost nearly $8000 and was photographing the huge waves in Hawaii. I had been using a long lens but wanted a different perspective, so I put the long lens and tripod far back on the beach and put the backpack on my back. I squatted down with a wide-angle lens, paying attention to where the waves usually stopped. A rouge wave came in and carried me out. I held the camera up, so it wouldn’t get ruined but realized I was trapped on my back in the sand because of the backpack. After a second wave washed over me and carried me farther out, I realized I was in serious trouble and put my hand (with the camera) down to try to flip over and stand up. Instead I realized I had just destroyed the camera and was being carried out farther.

Fortunately, my husband saw me and grabbed the backpack strap, which gave him something to hold onto, and dragged me to shore. The camera was a goner and I had sand in unspeakable places but at least I’m here to laugh about it now. The best experiences as a photographer were probably when I was an instructor for the North American Nature Photography Associations High School Scholarship program. Watching the students grow and develop their skills, and their excitement, passion and energy still brings a smile to my face.