About Barbara
 Barbara on location in Alaska |  You can find Barbara just about anywhere, photographing just about anything. |
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Barbara Jordan was born and raised in Long Beach, California. In 1966 she moved to Redlands, California
where she and her husband raised their four children, Tony, Syd, Jaimi and Stacie. In 1977, after a divorce,
Barbara went to work in the criminal justice field. In 1983, she married Donald W. Jordan, a criminal defense
attorney. Barbara and Don now reside in Sugarloaf, California. The marriage brought three step-children into
Barbara's life, Ken, Kate and Dan. Barbara and Don now have seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
From 1979 until 1994, Barbara worked as a mitigation expert on death penalty cases. Her work kept her in the courtroom and in prisons working with defendants facing the death penalty. In 1994, after having worked on 42 death penalty cases, Barbara decided that it was time to retire from her work with death penalty defendants. Her passion for the outdoors led her to pursue a career as a nature photographer. Barbara begin studying photography through the University of California at Santa Cruz and the New York Institute of Photography. She also studied through workshops with some of the country's leading photographers. After attending a Death Valley workshop with black and white photographers Rod Dresser and Richard Newman, Barbara became fascinated with black and white photography and darkroom work. She immediately built a darkroom in her home. In 1996, Barbara's first limited edition Black and White series was printed. Barbara now photographs in both color and black and white. In June of 1996, Barbara joined Ronn Patterson, Captain and Naturalist, aboard the Delphinus to photograph humpback whales in Southeast Alaska. The trip had such an impact on Barbara that since that time a good deal of her time has been spent photographing whales in Mexico, Alaska and Channel Islands National Park. She has photographed many whale species including humpbacks, orcas, fin, gray, minke, pilot, belugas and blue. In June of 1998, Barbara spent time in Denali National Park and in the Seward area where she photographed caribou, Dall sheep, moose, grizzly, porcupine and many other native species. In September of 1999 Barbara traveled to Silver Salmon Creek with Moose Peterson to photograph free roaming grizzlies. This opportunity to photograph the grizzlies on the ground rather than from a shooting platform was an incredible experience. In July 2000, Barbara returned to Alaska and traveled aboard Delphinus with Ronn Patterson and Tom Johnson. The trip turned out to be packed with incredible experiences, including calving glaciers, rolling icebergs, grizzly bears, transient orcas attacking a Stellar Sea Lion bull and an incredible breaching juvenile humpback. Alaska is still Barbara's favorite place to photograph. Barbara is now exhibiting in juried art shows as well as in The Gallery in The Village in Big Bear Lake. . Barbara is currently working on Photo Impressionism utilizing the native flowers and landscapes near her mountain home. She is also photographing wildlife native to her Southern California mountains. Barbara is also donating her time and photo prints to fundraising efforts of the Moonridge Animal Park, soon to become the Big Bear Zoo. This is home to many rescue animals, including grizzlies and black bear, wolves, mountain lions, bobcats, bald eagles and many more. Barbara was first published in The Best Of Photography Annual: 1995 by Serbin Communications. In 1995 she was a finalist in the Sierra Club's annual photography contest. She has received commendations for her work from the National Wildlife Federation. In January of 1997, Barbara had her first article, Garbage Bear, published. Since that time she has had many photographs, and articles published in the United States, Canada, South American and in Europe. Her credits include National Geographic Books, Swiss Air, Turner South, Shutterbug Magazine, Inland Empire Magazine, Jetsetting, and “The Best of Nature Photography, Images and Techniques of the Pros” a book by Amherst Media. Several evironmental organizations feature Barbara's work, such as the Endangered Species Coalition, Environmental Protection Agency and Save the Estuaries. Barbara’s fine art prints are in private collections around the world. In September of 1996, Barbara's web page took form. In January of 1998, Shutterbug Magazine featured Barbara's website in an article about photographers on the internet. Although the web site is a photography site, Barbara has attempted to put emphasis on the environment and endangered species. Barbara has a special desire to educate children about the environment by developing their interest in the animals and their habitat needs. She has been most encouraged by the interest in her website and photography shown by the many visitors that have emailed her. She hopes that her photography will have an effect on others by causing them to be touched by the beauty of nature. Barbara's trip equipment almost always includes a Canon 1Ds, an EOS3, a 70-200 lens, a 500 lens, a 35-70 lens, 1.4 & 2x extenders, warming and polarizing filters, a flash with a Wimberly flash bracket, a gitzo carbon fiber tripod and a Lowepro Nature Trekker bag. Barbara shoots digital most of the time now. However, when shooting film, her landscape film of choice is Fuji Velvia. Her wildlife film of choice is Fuji Provia |
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Photos by Don Jordan