Jim Roetzel is an Ohio native who has lived in the Summit County area his entire life. Growing up near the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, he was inspired by his family’s love of the outdoors and learned to see and appreciate nature through his father’s eyes: “My dad had a hunter’s eye and botanist’s love of nature, and he most enjoyed sharing the things he loved with us.”
Jim’s first camera was a gift from his parents, his first lessons were from his brother, and the rest of his family were his early subjects. But it was his love of being outside and exploring the Cuyahoga Valley that led Jim to focus on nature photography. An avid hiker and bird watcher, he believes “you have to be out in the wild almost every day to be good at this. Being outside matters most; the camera is just a way to share my walks with others.”
Capturing Ohio’s subtle beauty can be difficult, but it’s a challenge Jim finds particularly rewarding. Through his work, Jim strives to reveal the beauty in the common and the wonder in the world just beyond our doorstep. He finds photography one of the most powerful ways to share the spirit of natural places.
Jim has photographed all over the United States and Canada, following nature’s rhythms, migrations, and seasons. His work regularly appears in many national and local publications. .
A partial list of publisher’s Jim works with includes: Audubon, Sierra, Nature Conservancy, National Wildlife, Birder’s World, Ducks Unlimited, Little Brown, Browntrout, Northword Press, Yahoo, Montana, National Parks, Nature Conservancy, Nature's Best, Ohio, Peterson's Photographic, Wild Bird, Wildlife Conservation, Chanticleer Press, Falcon Press, Harcourt Brace, Knopf, Little Brown & Company, Magna, McGraw Hill, Random House, Smithsonian, Stackpole, Time-Life, Franklin Watts, Willow Creek Press.
Twin Lights Publishers produced 3 books using Jim’s work. The first in 2005: Cuyahoga Valley, National Park: A Photographic Portrait uses Jim’s wildlife images and landscape images by longtime friend Ian Adams. In 2007, Birds of North America was produced using nearly 250 of Jim’s avian images. And in 2008 Jim teamed with fellow bird photographer Jim Zipp to produce Birds of New England.