Meet Julia Vaughan | Fine Art Landscape & Nature Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Julia Vaughan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Julia, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in Vermont, the beautiful Green Mountain State. The time I spent in nature as a child – hiking, biking, canoeing, cross-country skiing, camping, and playing in the woods – was instrumental in leading me to the path I now follow as a landscape and nature photographer. I don’t think I would appreciate the beauty of nature the same way without that focus in my childhood.

I spent 16 years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I enjoyed many a hike. While going through an upheaval in my personal life in 2017-18, I coped through spending even more time in nature. Nature photography felt like a natural extension of the time I was already spending outdoors. As for so many people, photography focuses my attention on the moment and the scene at hand, eliminating the stresses of life for a short time. I dove deep into nature photography in 2018 and haven’t looked back!

I relocated to Portland, Oregon last summer with my husband and dog; while it doesn’t quite feel like home yet, I’ve been having a wonderful time exploring the natural beauty around our new home base.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
What excites me as a photographer: golden light, the vast night sky, otherworldly landscapes, moving water, droplets on plants, bees on flowers. I am inspired to create images of natural environments without the hand of man, so I nearly always choose a flower, tree or interesting rock for my foreground over a building. These untouched-looking natural places are harder and harder to find and all the more precious for it! I love geometric shapes and often gravitate toward diagonal lines, so you’ll see those in my art. And for me, color carries a lot of the emotion in my images, so I rarely convert to black and white.

My post-processing style is on the purist/natural side; I enhance what was already there rather than making dramatic changes or adding or removing things. Daily life is stressful enough, so I aim to convey feelings like serenity, wonder and joy in my images – and those are also the emotions that I most often feel while I’m taking the pictures!

Based on my own experience, I don’t think there are any shortcuts to one’s development as a photographer. There’s no substitute for taking tens (hundreds!) of thousands of photos and honestly assessing them. What works? What could be better? And then learn from that and improve little by little over time. Seeking advice and taking workshops from professional photographers you respect can help speed the process along. One of the things I love about photography is the endless opportunity for learning and growth; the improvement I see in my skills over time motivates me to do even better.

I’m really excited about starting to teach nature photography, sharing my passion with others in that way. I’ve started to do some online presentations and will soon be launching in-person workshops. I can’t wait for this next chapter!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m still exploring the Portland area since moving here almost a year ago, but here are some of my favorites. For natural scenery, the Columbia River Gorge is unparalleled. We would stop at Vista House for an amazing view of the huge Columbia River, then visit Multnomah Falls and several other waterfalls in the same area. Another day, we would drive to Silver Falls State Park for more waterfalls. There are hiking loops of different lengths – I’ve done the 5.5 mile loop, which includes 7 amazing waterfalls! I recommend visiting in May or June for the best water flow. The coast would be another day trip, with Cannon Beach and its amazing sea stacks about an hour and a half from Portland. And of course we would need to see Mount Hood! Lost Lake has beautiful views of the mountain, with camping and cabins for rent.

On adventure days, I usually pack my food so I can maximize my time in nature. But on days when staying in town, Portland has amazing food! I would make sure to check out some of Portland’s food carts. Many neighborhoods have their own cluster, with cuisine options from around the world that would rival many restaurants. I also love the fish & chips at Portland Fish Market – and they’re gluten free! Another favorite is the Old Gold, a restaurant/bar in North Portland with great cocktails and an elk burger with bacon jam that I order every time. It’s hard to go wrong dining out in Portland!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
During the height of the pandemic, I connected online with four other female landscape and nature photographers who all lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, as I did at the time. We began having video calls every other week and within a few months, started meeting in person for photography outings. I now count them among my dearest friends. We are there for each other through photography challenges like post-processing advice and flagging motivation, as well as life events and stresses outside of photography. I value their friendship so much! And thanks to their advice and encouragement, my post-processing has progressed by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years. Shoutout to Maricel Quesada Jara, Julie Boyd, Michelle Jacquemet and Amy Medina, the PhotoGals!

Website: https://www.juliamegan.photography/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliameganphotography/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliameganphotography