Seeing our community through an artist’s lens
Story by Chelsea Chambers
Eagle is a lovely community four seasons of the year, but fall is a special time. In this article, we profile five Eagle Camera Club photographers who are looking forward to autumn.
Jim Peterson
Jim has been a part of the Eagle Camera Club for four years. He enjoys photographing people – families, couples, and high school seniors. Jim finds landscape work both challenging and fun. Photography has been in his blood since high school. Jim worked with periscope photography in the U.S. Navy and has fueled his passion by taking photography classes at Boise State University.
Jack Floegel
Jack is a photographer and instructor for Sawtooth Photo Pros and the owner of JackZ Photography, www.jackzphotography.com. He has been taking pictures since he was 5 years old. “I love landscape work, photographing people, and animals,” he says. He currently volunteers with the Idaho Humane Society and teaches community education for the Boise School District.Living for 20 years in New Mexico immersed Jack in the diverse and colorful culture of Santa Fe and the striking landscape of the desert. More recently, Yellowstone and the beauty of Idaho has allowed him to test and expand his artistic horizons. He is grateful daily for the advances that digital photography has brought to the art.
Dan Mottaz
It’s hard not to have a deep appreciation for nature when you grow up in a place like the Redwood Coast in Northern California. In the mid 1970s, Dan was a painter. 
After a while, he discovered that to paint pictures of remote locations, he needed a camera so he could paint the scenes from the pictures he took. It didn’t take long before he fell in love with the art of photography. ”I put my painting aspirations aside and devoted my artistic inclinations to photography,” he says. ”Photography allowed me to explore not only artistic pursuits, but technical ones as well.” The art had the added benefit of allowing him to explore the outdoors where he prefers to be. In college he studied photography, art, and film production, and ended up devoting 25 years to a career in the film and video business. It wasn’t until about 8 years ago, when digital photography took hold, that Dan was reintroduced to photography by his wife who gifted him with his first digital camera. Today, Dan is an avid member of the Camera Club of Eagle and producing photography again, a dream come full circle.
Don Johnson
Don Johnson grew up with cameras and darkrooms in the film era and embraced the transition to digital technology shortly after its advent. He received formal photography training at Boise State University and Brooks Institute of Photography before embarking on an entirely different career path, one that led him across the United States and around the world before returning to his first love, the camera. His work has earned national and local awards and can be seen gracing the walls of St. Luke’s Medical Center, St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, Idaho Central Credit Union, and other local businesses. Don provides portrait, commercial, and product services through Arrowrock Photography, event photography and skills training through Sawtooth Photo Pros, and was President of the Camera Club of Eagle from 2010 to 2012.
David McNeil
David enjoys photography as a hobby and began to pursue this artistic passion in 2008. David and his family moved to Boise in 2012, and since then, he has been shooting photos of the beautiful and diverse landscape in our community. He is a self-taught artist who loves taking photos of scenery and hopes to continue to enjoy and improve his art.
