MONEP Intro

We’re MONEP – the Missouri Nature and Environmental Photographers, based in the Metro St. Louis (Missouri) region. Our group provides a space, in person and online, for individuals to gather and share photos and ideas about photography and nature.

Take a look around our site to find out more about us and then please consider joining us for one of our monthly meetings.

Our mission is to provide a forum for individuals interested in the field of nature photography and the environment, provide education, gather and disseminate information, and promote nature photography as an art form and medium of communication.

Find Out More…….

April Meeting

Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Time: 6:00 p.m. (NEW TIME!!)
Location: Powder Valley Nature Center Auditorium

Topic: Photographing Butterflies & Dragonflies with Richard Day

Richard Day will teach us how to photograph butterflies and dragonflies with minimal equipment, but will show us the right equipment to use. You will learn where to locate these insects, what time of day, and how to approach them. Learn their biology–knowing your subject is key to any wildlife photography and these insects are no different, some only fly for a short time, a certain time of year, or a certain location. He will go over the equipment he uses to capture these mobile insects and resources to identify them. Besides photographing them perched he will talk about photographing them in flight which can be a challenging task.

all images above © Richard Day – Daybreak Imagery

Richard is full-time professional nature photographer who’s been in the business of marketing and licensing photos and teaching photo workshops since 1990. He specializes in birds, butterflies, gardens, flowers, and dragonflies; as well as aerial, agriculture, mammals, travel, panoramic, and other outdoor images. His images have appeared in hundreds of major national and international publications including Audubon, Sierra Club, National Geographic, National Wildlife, and others. He also contributes over 100 images a year to calendars.

Richard has been teaching people how to improve their photography and to be a responsible, ethical photographer since the early 90s. He’s led workshops and taught seminars throughout North America and was a guide for Frontiers North to photograph polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba for 14 years.

Richard is an Adjunct Research Associate in Zoology with the Illinois State Museum and an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Illinois–Illinois Natural History Survey. He has conducted dragonfly, butterfly and moth research since 2005 for the states of Illinois and Missouri, including 18 years of research work on the Hines emerald dragonfly, a Federally Endangered species mostly in Missouri.

He’s an active member of the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, Illinois Audubon Society, International Association of Panoramic Photographers, and North American Nature Photography Association and American Society of Media Photographers. Richard is a FAA remote drone pilot.

He lives in the country on 63 acres in south central Illinois. The property is landscaped to attract wildlife with improvements including a 5-acre native grass and wildflower prairie and 2 shallow water wetlands and many of his photos come from the property.