NICE TO MEET YOU!
Hi, I’m Dan Elster. I was born and raised in Chicagoland—about as far from the wilderness as you can get. In the early 2000’s, I decided to leave the city for the small town of Island Lake, IL. That’s when I started seeing ‘real” wildlife. My then girlfriend, now wife gifted me a camera to see if I could “capture” what I was seeing. This gift changed both of our lives forever. In 2007, we took a leap of faith—quit our jobs, sold our home, and hit the road. Patty took a job as a travel nurse while I pursued wildlife photography as a full time career. After a few years of nomadic living, we landed in Southern Oregon.
I’m much more interested in wildlife than I am in shutter speeds, ISO’s, focal lengths and Photoshop. Cameras are just a tool to communicate the beauty of the natural world to others. Every coyote, bear, owl or seal out there is a thinking, feeling individual. And their struggles to survive never end. This is the story I aim to tell.
The longer I do this, the more I see the impact we’ve had on the natural world. And the more it scares me. So in 2019, I started Big Picture Greetings to do something about it. 10% of sales is given back to the wild. The first donations were small … but they are growing. And I have no plans of slowing down.
…THESE WILD ANIMALS AND WILD SPACES ARE IN TROUBLE.
SO, I STARTED BIG PICTURE GREETINGS.
When I first started the Big Picture line of greeting cards, I thought using a "wrap-around" photograph—a bigger picture—would look cool. But then I got to thinking about the "The Big Picture,” and how wild animals and wild places are in trouble. I wanted to help. I decided to give 10% of the proceeds from these cards to conservation efforts. The donations started small, but are growing fast. Now I’m on a mission!
