A New Book, a New Website, and a New Chapter
After a long career in photojournalism—and many rewarding years photographing higher education—I am stepping away from that work. I will now be able to give dedicated, planned time to bird...
Wild moments.
Closer to home than you think.
Award-winning bird photography by Steve Jessmore, capturing the beauty, behavior, and stories of birds in the places they call home.
The Splendor Next Door
The first Birds Doing Stuff book from award-winning Michigan photographer Steve Jessmore.
Over five years and more than 250 mornings, Steve returned to the same 241-step boardwalk at Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, Michigan.
LOOK CLOSER
Steve's Point of View
Extraordinary moments are happening all around us.
For award-winning Michigan photographer Steve Jessmore, bird photography is about more than making beautiful images. It’s about slowing down, returning often, and discovering the stories unfolding in familiar places.
From birds feeding and finding mates to raising young and defending territory, Steve’s photographs capture the moments that reveal how birds live—and why the places they depend on matter.
Fine Art Collection
ART WITH A STORY
Bring the wild home.
Explore Steve’s collection of fine art bird and nature photography, including award-winning images and photographs featured by National Audubon and Smithsonian.
Available as archival Fine Art Prints, contemporary Metal Prints, and Signed Fine Art Prints.
Projects
NO WAKE ZONE
The Torch River Photography Project
The Torch River is a designated no-wake zone, yet its small islands and fragile shoreline habitat continue to disappear beneath the combined pressure of boat wakes and human activity.
Through No Wake Zone, Steve documents the birds that live, nest, feed, and migrate along this narrow northern Michigan freshwater corridor—as well as the growing pressures on the habitat they depend upon.
Photographed largely from his kayak during what he calls “the calm between the storms,” the project captures both the remarkable beauty of the Torch River and the responsibility we share to protect it.
Reeds Lake Project
The Splendor Next Door
Over five years and more than 250 mornings, a 241-step boardwalk at Reeds Lake became my window into an extraordinary community of birds and wildlife. What first appeared ordinary became anything but.
This photography project—and the book it inspired—is an invitation to slow down, return often, and discover the remarkable nature waiting right outside our doors.
Reeds Lake Project
Passion for Plovers
Born from a National Audubon assignment, this ongoing photography project follows one of North America’s rarest birds from its Great Lakes nesting beaches to its wintering grounds along the southern Atlantic coast.
Over three years, I have documented the plovers’ behavior, their fragile habitat, and the remarkable network of people dedicated to protecting them and ensuring their survival.
Birds Doing Stuff Collections
Shop calendars, notecards, books, and other ways to bring a little more bird life into your everyday.
- Stationery
- Books
- Apparel
FROM THE FIELD
Following the Current
Last week, I stopped scheduling new freelance assignments. In October, I will reach my “magic number”—66 years and 10 months—and will begin collecting Social Security. On paper, I suppose that...
The Story Waiting Next Door
The Place That Proved Me Wrong For years, I imagined the photographs I most wanted to make were waiting somewhere far away. If I could travel to the right place—to...