Jim Milton was born and raised in Northern California with summers spent on a cattle ranch in Montana. Summers on the ranch observing and tracking animals, fishing and riding in open country allowed him to develop a deep appreciation for nature’s scenic beauty and diverse wildlife.

He began taking photographs in his twenties to record the places he was lucky enough to travel. Outward Bound in the Sierras, living with Eskimos in Alaska, delivering medicine by burro in Mexico’s Sierra Madre and studying Voodou drumming in Haiti were some of the experiences that colored his vision of the world as a young man.

Creating slide shows and print material for groups like the California Nature Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land and The Montana Land Reliance, he used his photography to assist in the conservation of the natural places and wildlife that he had grown to love. While his daughters grew up, his photography helped create brochures and annual reports supporting fundraising efforts for the local public schools. It was in this environment that he developed the ability to photograph people and places.

With the kids out of college and on their own, his focus has become capturing those elusive moments that fill any day outdoors with beauty and wonder. A mother with her baby, kids in a parade, a sunset on the coast, a cloudscape in the mountains, a vocalizing Elephant seal, a Sandhill crane taking flight, the reflection of public art on a skyscraper, are the kinds of images that inspire his work.