John Seibel

Photographer

Location: Dawsonville, Georgia Camera: Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II, Canon EOS D60 Genre: Fine Art, Nature, Architectural URL: www.johnseibelphotography.com

Biography

John Seibel was born and raised in the heartland – a small grain farm in central Ohio. When the time came for career decisions, the future was rather murky so Mr. Seibel joined the Marine Corps “for a couple of years to get some GI Bill benefits and then on to college.” Twenty-three plus years later as he was ending his service in the Marines, career choices were not much clearer.

During his time in the Marine Corps Mr. Seibel traveled extensively throughout the world – to exotic and beautiful locations like Hawaii, and to places of despair and social ugliness like Somalia.

He used his camera and his eye to capture the sights of these locations. Sunrise, sunset and even nighttime were some of his favorite times to photograph – capturing and accentuating the beauty of the often missed – often monochromatic sights. Throughout Mr. Seibel’s love for photography remained but was never explored beyond that of personal joy.

After the Marines and a slight delay of 23 years, Mr. Seibel returned to Ohio to attend Miami University in Oxford where he in fact used his GI Bill benefits to realize his goal of earning a college degree. When Mr. Seibel graduated from Miami University in the summer of 1997 he decided that Austin, Texas would be a great place to start on “the next chapter” in his book of life. So, in the middle of a Texas Summer, Mr. Seibel moved to Austin and began to look for opportunities to apply his 23 years of leadership in the Marines and his newly conferred college degree to benefit some local company.

His interests nudged him toward small companies just getting started where he believed he could contribute in many areas rather than just one specialty – the antithesis of the Marine Corps. Interestingly, it also lead him to a local venture capital investor who “gave me a ticket for a wild ride in the world of startup companies.” Five long, but very interesting years later Mr. Seibel emerged with a renewed sense of purpose, direction and energy. All of these would be channeled into a confluence of his love for photography, nature and the beauty God has bestowed upon us in the great outdoors.

Mr. Seibel specializes in photographing sunsets, sunrises, nature, landmarks and a variety of other sights that we often miss in the hurried pace of life – or while we sleep. Mr. Seibel’s passion is somewhat like a moth – drawn toward the light, muted as it may be; and he uses his photographic skills to show that light in unusual ways. Mr. Seibel says that, in addition to light, he applies the three Ps to his photography: patience, placement and perseverance. Says Seibel “you can’t get the shot that isn’t there and you can’t get the shot if you’re not there.”

In addition to his scenics, Mr. Seibel does high end architectural photography. He has an extensive portfolio of photographs he has taken and is available for custom photographic assignments. Mr. Seibel has his work on display at a growing number of locations in both Austin and north Georgia including the Art & Frame Warehouse (3 Austin locations), Hang Ups (Lakeway, TX), Images of Austin and the Southwest (Austin), Outdoor Traditions (Dawsonville, GA) and Dawsonville Art & Frame (Dawsonville, GA). He is an active member of the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce and recently joined the Dawson County Arts Council