by Steven Higgs | Dec 28, 2025
In retrospect, it seems obvious that 21 months spent poring over my professional past for two major retrospective projects would end at the beginning, with a story package about nature photographer Bill Thomas.
As detailed in this four-part series, Bill is the one individual most responsible for the half century career path that led me to my 2025 coffee table book Andy Mahler and the Hoosier National and Indiana University acquiring my professional archive — 50 years of my nature images and my Bill Thomas files among them.
Bill served as a mentor, friend, and muse from the moment we met at a camera store in downtown Bloomington in 1979 until I completed my half-century quest to photograph the Amazon in 2024 — and am now planning a nature photo adventure to the Scandinavian Arctic during the next Midnight Sun.
Along my journey into the past, I discovered that the Internet has precious little information about a man who, through his writings, photographs, seminars, and presentations on photography, writing, and nature touched untold thousands of lives throughout his 75 years on Earth.
This project is meant as one attempt to remedy that oversight.
BLOGS
- Part 1: Telling National Geographic ‘No’? – Leaving a Trail of Footprints to Follow
- Part 2: From Newspapers to Books to Photo Seminars to Safari Adventures
- Part 3: Natural Trailblazer, Friend, Mentor, Muse
- Part 4: Following Bill Thomas, from Brown County to the Amazon and Back
Anyone with any knowledge of Bill Thomas, his life, career, and/or his archive, please contact us through our Contact Form.
