Johnson’s photography of the pond and its bountiful wildlife—think butterflies, hummingbirds, and frogs—are beautifully captured on the magazine’s cover and its glossy pages, as well as online.

Read his story and view the photos .

As a result of the project, Johnson wrote, “we went from seeing an occasional wandering toad to now having a fully functioning ecosystem.”

“For me, this is a story of hope,” he said. “Tackling the extinction crisis can seem overwhelming, but everyday folks can transform their backyards into an oasis for wildlife.”

According to an artist’s statement:
“Salt & Fury” is an evocative body of work that delves into the profound connection between environmental forces and psychological states, utilizing the dynamic coastline as a powerful metaphor for internal experiences of anger, grief, and transformation. This collection comprises oil paintings of fractured shorelines, envisioned not as traditional landscapes but as “impact zones” where human emotion confronts the boundaries of language, alongside abstract color works that surrender to pure sensation, embodying affect in raw, visceral form.

Gusler presented on her artwork at a sabbatical spotlight and opening reception on Tuesday, Oct. 28.

View a photo gallery of the reception below.

Gusler holds an MFA in painting and drawing. At 91����Ƶ, she shares her love of immersion into these practices with her students.

To see more of her art, visit or follow her on Instagram at .

The professor and photographer, whose colorful images of the seasonal ponds—and the aquatic life that inhabit them—have earned him 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year honors and graced the cover of Nature Conservancy Magazine, has been named an associate fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP).��

was one of 16 accomplished photographers and filmmakers selected to join the iLCP’s associate fellow program for 2025, the nonprofit recently announced in a release.��“Each of them brings exceptional skill in visual storytelling, a deep engagement with conservation initiatives and a strong dedication to advancing environmental awareness through their work,” the .��

Established in 2005, iLCP supports environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography and filmmaking. Its fellows are a group of professional wildlife, nature, and cultural visual storytellers who, “in addition to displaying remarkable photographic and filmmaking skills, have each demonstrated a deep commitment to conservation efforts around the globe,” according to its . These 120+ fellows, based in 26 countries and working in 190 countries, “shine a light on issues ranging from endangered flora and fauna to climate change to ocean health.”

For Johnson, conservation photography allows him to share the same sense of wonder he feels when encountering other creatures in the natural world. “Millions of animal and plant species coexist on Earth, but very few of these species enter our consciousness; that invisibility is a big problem when it comes to conservation,” he said. “Even in the midst of an extinction crisis, most of our news and political discourse is very human-centered. Using visual communication to advocate for the natural world is a way to challenge that narrative and look for ways to share the planet with the ‘more-than-human’ world.”

The 91����Ƶ professor had been an affiliate for iLCP for a number of years where he served as a technical consultant and also connected 91����Ƶ students to its photographers and staff. As a fellow, he will attend the organization’s signature event, , in mid-November, which brings together conservation photographers, filmmakers, scientists, advocates, and communicators from around the globe as they share powerful stories and solutions for a sustainable future.

“It’s definitely affirming to be a part of a fellowship of passionate and committed peers in the conservation photography world,” Johnson said.

Michael Horst, dean of Behavioral, Health and Natural Sciences at 91����Ƶ, said Johnson’s work brings viewers face to face with the miraculous elements of the natural world that might otherwise be overlooked, creating an emotional connection that heightens the importance of protecting and conserving it.

“At 91����Ƶ, we know the importance of deeply cultivating sustainable practices,” Horst said. “For those who need encouragement, Steve’s work can make a big difference.”

91����Ƶ the professor

Johnson came to 91����Ƶ in 2005 and started one of the few full-semester conservation photography courses offered to undergraduates in the U.S.

He holds an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design and serves on the advisory board of the Virginia Wildlife Committee and Girls Who Click. At 91����Ƶ’s VACA department, he teaches digital media classes and a specialized course on conservation photography. When he’s not in his office, he can often be found crouched next to a vernal pool or kayaking the North Fork of the Shenandoah River.

His images of the natural world have appeared in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, National Wildlife Magazine, Nature Conservancy Magazine, Ranger Rick, Virginia Wildlife, bioGraphic, Orion, National Science Teaching Association Press books, and numerous conservation publications and journals. His long-term project exploring vernal pools was highlighted by the Southern Environmental Law Center in “The wonder of wetlands and 5 Southerners working to protect them” ().

Johnson said one of his favorite things about teaching is that 91����Ƶ and VACA allow for so much innovative, interdisciplinary practice. For example, in his conservation photography class, he teaches a mix of photography, digital media, and science students. 

“In some places, the sciences and arts barely mix,” he said. “Here, I can talk to science students about making compelling images and teach visual arts students about vernal pools.”

Johnson will teach the class in conservation photography again during the fall 2026 semester.

View more of his photography at .

That’s when the former Durham, North Carolina, resident stumbled onto the annual Beaver Queen Pageant, “a wildly campy, dam-important celebration of queer joy, eco-love, and over-the-top critter cosplay” held in the city for the past two decades. The raucous, homegrown drag competition, with its blend of high drama and low stakes, proved to be the perfect subject for the filmmaker, who joined 91����Ƶ’s Visual and Communication Arts (VACA) Department this year as assistant professor of digital media.

Her latest film, the heartwarming and quirky Once Upon a Wetland (2025), won “Best Documentary Short” at BEYOND: The Cary Film Festival (North Carolina) in mid-September, where it competed against short films from around the world. The 15-minute documentary follows first-time contestants Madam Bitey White, a charismatic performer and trivia host, and 16-year-old Ginger Bite-Dis, the youngest competitor, as they prepare for and compete in the 2023 Beaver Queen Pageant. The film offers a playful and poignant look at how local traditions provide space for defiance, connection, and collective care during a time of looming anti-LGBTQ legislation and tightening drag restrictions.

“This is a film that highlights joy,” said Miller-Derstine. “It’s about the hope we find when we gather together.”

The pageant’s castorine contestants take on beaver personalities, introduce themselves in their handcrafted “wetlands-ready wear,” showcase unique talents, and participate in interviews in their finest evening wear. The website notes that Beav Aldrin, the 2015 Queen, performed an aerial routine on silks, while the 2012 Queen, Furrah Gnawsett-Major, played the Star Wars theme on clarinet while hula-hooping.

The documentary was shown during a weeklong theatrical run at New York City’s Firehouse Cinema in May as part of DCTV’s “Road to the Oscars” Academy-qualifying initiative, which makes it eligible for consideration and potential nomination in the Academy Awards’ “Best Documentary Short Film” category.

It will be screened at the in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the weekend of Nov. 7, and the in Wilmington, North Carolina, the weekend of Nov. 21. Although the film isn’t currently available to watch outside of film festivals, Miller-Derstine said she’s seeking an online distributor to stream the film.

Once Upon a Wetland was directed by Miller-Derstine, produced by her and Ian Robertson Kibbe, and edited by Ace McColl.

91����Ƶ the professor

Miller-Derstine grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and moved to Lancaster at age nine. She graduated from Goshen College in 2016 with a BA in communication (film concentration) and English writing, and earned an MFA in documentary film from Wake Forest University in 2023.

She served as multimedia producer for Mennonite Central Committee from 2016 to 2021, and spent the past year as an adjunct professor in filmmaking at Davidson College. The Mennonite-raised filmmaker said she had “heard through the grapevine” that longtime VACA Professor Jerry Holsopple would retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year and jumped at the opportunity when the job opened. Now in her second month on 91����Ƶ’s faculty, she said she’s found a welcoming community to call home. 

“I love 91����Ƶ,” she said. “I fully appreciate that we have a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and that the university’s priorities are rooted in values of community, peace, and the greater social good.”

Miller-Derstine approaches all her work with a deep commitment to ethical storytelling and an awareness of the extractive history of the documentary field. She has won multiple awards for her films, including Best Director for her documentary short Welcome to the Dollhouse (2020) at both the Atlanta DocuFest and Hoosier Films Festival, and Best Documentary at the LongLeaf Film Festival for her feature documentary Bloom (2024).

“How do you mark the ending of one part of your life journey, while anticipating the next,” he wrote in a journal entry from that day. 

Roughly an hour after seeing his students off, he was on his bicycle pedaling toward a ferry that would begin an 1,800-kilometer (1,118-mile) journey across three countries in 22 days. Photographs from his ride along the EuroVelo 10/13 bike route, which follows the coast of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as journal entries he logged during the trek, are the featured exhibition on display at the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery. An opening reception for Holsopple and his collection of photos, paintings and writings was held at the gallery on Friday, Feb. 21. The exhibition will remain on display through March 21.

Holsopple, who joined the 91����Ƶ faculty in 2000 (he taught the school’s first digital media classes as a part-time instructor starting in 1998), is retiring this year. His contributions to 91����Ƶ throughout the past 25 years are too numerous to name, but include the creation of the communication major within the Language and Literature Department in 2000. 

“He actually built the communications department,” VACA Professor Steven Johnson said in introductory remarks at the reception. “It eventually merged with the art department to become the present-day Visual and Communication Arts department that you all know and love. … VACA majors look to Jerry for honest feedback and wise mentoring.”

Holsopple spent the 2009-2010 academic year as a Fulbright scholar at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania. His Into the Window exhibition, featuring icons he painted during his year there, was the first exhibition held at the Gehman Gallery when it opened in 2010.

The title of his latest exhibition, Finding Water, relates to the route he and his biking partner, Glyn Jones, took along the Baltic Sea coastline. “Every day we would see the water, from sandy windswept beaches to large rock boulders left by the glacier centuries ago,” a journal entry states. But, it also relates to how the metaphorical river of life carries us along our journeys. “I wanted this to be a show that’s not about remembering what I’ve done for 30 years or whatever, but about embracing the mystery of what is yet to come,” he shared at the reception. “And, what each day on a bike trip brings you that you don’t know is going to come your way.”

“Why did I take this bike trip?” Holsopple asked the crowd gathered at Friday’s reception. “Because I was looking for a way to process what it meant to say goodbye to these people. I stopped to visit people along the way that I had known all these years. It was like giving all three countries a big hug.”

The exhibition features several grids of photographs, each related to a theme. One grid shows Holocaust sites in the capital city of Riga, Latvia. Another is a collection of photos of churches that he passed by on his route. A grid of coffee shops includes his favorite cafe in Estonia, Kehrweider, “with its underground feel, good coffee and snacks, and an attitude,” he wrote in his journal. “In the early days of bringing students on these trips, you couldn’t get a carry-out coffee anywhere. Now, coffee shops are everywhere and people carry their paper cups down the sidewalks in hordes.”

Referencing a large photograph of trees along a shore, Holsopple recounted his experience capturing the moment. “It was about 6 a.m. when we went down the hill and I saw this reflection and I jammed on my brakes,” Holsopple said. “I was not going to pass up that reflection. I’m always fascinated by reflections because I think it plays with this idea of reality and what we imagine and what we see if we really pay attention to what’s happening in life.”

Finding Water also includes a pair of icons that Holsopple painted. One of them is inspired by an icon that Maria Skobtsova, a Russian poet, nun, and member of the French Resistance during World War II, was working on before she died at the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany. Holsopple and 91����Ƶ Theater Director Justin Poole created a musical theater production based on her life that opens at the MainStage Theater in March. The other icon is a stylized self-portrait that he created in 2016.��

Cassidy Walker, an 91����Ƶ senior majoring in art, photography, and digital media, attends every gallery opening through her work for the VACA department, but said Holsopple’s was special to her. 

“Jerry’s the reason I ended up coming to 91����Ƶ in the first place,” she said. “I had gotten into some big art schools, and he convinced me that I would get a great education here and that I’d get to be one of the Lithuania kids.” 

Walker was part of Holsopple’s final intercultural trip to Lithuania in 2023. She spoke about his guidance in helping her figure out her goals for the future. “I was nervous about becoming a triple-major and he’s been this person I’ve been able to lean on,” she said. “He’s always been there for me.”

Rachel Holderman ’18, who graduated from 91����Ƶ’s VACA department with degrees in Photography and Art, now works as a photographer for James Madison University. She took several classes taught by Holsopple and said she likes staying connected with those who helped develop her skills. At the opening reception, she said she was drawn to Holsopple’s use of reflections and unique angles. “It’s mirrored so perfectly that it’s hard to tell where the surface is, like where reality meets reflection,” she said about the photo of trees on a glassy lake.

Holsopple is an artist, photographer and renowned videographer who teaches photography and digital media-related courses in 91����Ƶ’s VACA department. He has a BS degree in Bible from 91����Ƶ, an MDiv from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, and a PhD in Media & Communication from European Graduate School. He led undergraduate intercultural trips to the Baltics in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2021 and 2023.��

A 2013 trip to the country resulted in the photography exhibit and book, Traces of a Social Movement: The Baltic Way, about people who participated in a 630-kilometer-long human chain, formed in August 1989 across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

Heim’s work focuses on the ways human-influenced environmental change impacts wildlife. Her series of photographs capturing the struggle between two rival owl species earned her last fall. She was named a this year.

She will present at a Suter Science Seminar on Friday from 10:15-11:15 a.m. in Suter Science Center 106. Her presentation, “Wild Heart: Bringing Empathy and Grace to Environmental Storytelling,” will teach audience members how to tap into their curiosity and creative processes and unlock new ways of seeing the world.

Later that day, at 4 p.m., Heim will host an opening reception for an exhibition featuring her photography at the Margaret Martin Gehman Gallery. The exhibition will run through Friday, Oct. 4.

Both events are free to attend and open to the public. Please see the campus map for parking information.

Heim used infrared techniques to photograph at night and limit disturbing the nocturnal owls. Her evocative images capture the last-ditch efforts being made by conservationists to try to save the northern spotted owl from extinction. One of those efforts includes the , which are outcompeting the spotted owl for habitat and resources. 

“This story poses a question with no easy answer: When is it acceptable to kill one wild species to try to save another?” Heim asks in her portfolio, “An Owl for an Owl.”

This won’t be the first time that students in 91����Ƶ’s Visual And Communication Arts (VACA) program have seen Heim’s photography.

VACA Professor Steven Johnson has known Heim for nearly a decade and frequently showcases her work as an example of powerful environmental storytelling.

“Morgan’s photography is authentic, compassionate and engaging,” Johnson said. “She’s really at the top of her game, and her work aligns perfectly with 91����Ƶ’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.”

Heim, who lives in Astoria, Oregon, is the founder of , a storytelling and strategy platform for conservation. In 2020, she co-launched , which is aimed at raising the voices of diverse women in the craft of conservation visual storytelling. She is a Senior Fellow with the , and her work has appeared in National Geographic, Audubon, Smithsonian and The New York Times. She has been recognized in Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Siena International Photo Awards and the Big Picture Natural World Photo Competitions.

A black mass appears to swallow up one corner of the gallery, surrounded by a galaxy of orbs the color of coal. Each of these orbs is covered in a unique texture. Some of them resemble cells in the midst of splitting apart. A few look like sunflower heads, pieces of coral or jellyfish. Others take on the appearance of an alien lifeform, covered in lumps and bumps or dimples and craters.

The orbs snake their way along the walls of the gallery and stretch out across its floor, inviting visitors to step through the installation and examine it from every angle. An array of lights bathes the ceramic art pieces in red, orange, yellow and green hues.

The mixed-media installation, titled In Entropy, is the work of Anna Westfall, associate professor of visual and communication arts (VaCA) at 91����Ƶ. She created the pieces mostly from clay and bicycle tires to “provide the viewer with a multisensory experience through an altered space,” an artist statement reads.

Westfall hosted an opening reception for her exhibition at the gallery at 4 p.m. on Friday. 91����Ƶ 50 people braved that morning’s snowfall to attend the reception, which included an introduction from her about the installation and the process in creating it.

She said she was inspired by looking at images of cells. As the COVID-19 pandemic arrived and cast the world into uncertainty, she wanted to explore the feelings of disorder and distress that many people felt.

Her statement reads: “The instinct to find order and stability in chaos, as an attempt to gain a sense of peace and control, often brings conflicting outcomes of serenity and anxiety. This installation explores how these experiences influence perceptions of life and challenges found in the mutable nature of existence.”  

In Entropy will be available to view at the Margaret Martin Gehman gallery until Friday, Feb. 16. Westfall will present a university colloquium about her installation and the process in creating it on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m. in Suter Science Center 106.

Westfall received her bachelor’s of fine arts from James Madison University and her master’s of fine arts from the University of New Mexico, both of which were in ceramic and sculpture.

In early October, the conservation photographer traveled to London for an awards ceremony honoring him among The annual competition, hosted by the Natural History Museum, selected his photo “Pool of Wonder” and 99 others for inclusion in the exhibition. A jury of nature photography experts picked the 100 winning images out of 49,957 entries from photographers in 95 countries.

That means Johnson’s photo was part of only 0.2 percent of submissions to receive the coveted award. It’s not hard to see why the contest has been described as “one of the most prestigious in world photography” ().

Johnson networked with skilled photographers from around the world, including some up-and-coming talents in the youth category, at the ceremony. He and his wife, Anna Maria, explored the museum and admired the other winning photos.

When he returned home from the trip, he searched online to see which news outlets had covered the event. It was then he saw that among their 13 favorites from the competition. 

‘Something a little special’

“Pool of Wonder” captures a cluster of spotted salamander eggs nestled on a bed of sphagnum moss just under the surface of a vernal pool in Augusta County, Virginia. 

Vernal pools are temporary bodies of water that form from seasonal rains and snowmelt, Johnson writes on his . In late winter and early spring, the pools host breeding events for amphibians and macroinvertebrates. The pools are ideal nurseries for salamanders because they’re safe from predators such as fish.

“As a conservation photographer, I’m drawn to the intricate dance of underwater life in Appalachian Mountain forests and nearby lowlands,” he states on his website.

Johnson, professor and program director for the visual and communication arts (VaCA) department, created the photo in March 2020 during a sabbatical. Taking good pictures of vernal pools requires being there at the right time and a lot of searching, he said. The vernal pool featured in “Pool of Wonder” is on land owned by a friend who serves with him on the Virginia Wilderness Committee.

Johnson used a camera rig capable of being submerged underwater to capture the split between the sparse brush seen above the surface and the lush vegetation below. 

“The light was beautiful, and it’s really just a few inches of water, so I’m just kind of crouched by the side slowly lowering my camera in to try to not disturb the sediment around it,” he said, recalling the moment he took the photo. 

“Pool of Wonder” graced the cover of the summer 2021 issue of Nature Conservancy magazine. Johnson has previously likened the sunlight filtering through the eggs in the picture, and the delicate shades of blue and green, to “an aquatic Vermeer painting” (91����Ƶ News). 

He entered the wildlife photography contest for his first time this year after some encouragement from friends in the field.

“This one always felt like it had something a little special to it,” he said. “I think the sort of symmetry, the color, it all felt like something had come together in that image.”

Johnson, who authored an with featured essays by vernal pools expert Michael Hayslett, said part of his mission as a conservation photographer is to highlight the threat that development and climate change pose to the underwater worlds.

Less predictable spring rains are causing pools to dry up before the young salamanders can fully develop and live on land. 

“[Hayslett] has told me that living here for decades, there used to be one big night where you could predict all the spotted salamanders would come out and migrate, and now that’s become very fragmented to much smaller events,” he said. 

Where art meets science 

When he’s not crouching by the side of a vernal pool in his waders, Johnson is teaching the next generation of photographers and visual artists.

In addition to conservation photography, his courses include advanced Photoshop, web design and social media. Johnson said the VaCA program teaches students about different forms of storytelling, from web and video production to animation and photography, and even painted murals.

“Students really get that full scope,” he said. “I think that is what makes them so marketable. They know how to do a whole bunch of things and do them well.”

’19 is putting the skills he learned from those classes to good use as media producer at Gravity Group, a Harrisonburg-based brand and marketing consultancy. He said the class in conservation photography instilled in him a love for nature photography. It not only taught him technical skills, but also how to be more intentional with the stories he tells.

Swartzendruber described “Pool of Wonder” as visually stunning.

“It truly brings me to an entirely different world just looking at it,” he said.

“He’s doing something that I’ve genuinely never seen before with the knowledge he has.”

Johnson is now in his 19th year at 91����Ƶ. He said one unique strength for the VaCA program is the wealth of places to photograph nature near campus, such as the 1.6 million acre . The cameras they use in their courses, even at the introductory level, are the same ones he uses professionally, he added.

He welcomes students approaching his visual and communication arts classes from a background in environmental science and biology.

“If they love the world of nature, the environment and also want to communicate about that, we have two dedicated courses right now they can develop those skills and find faculty who are passionate about that intersection,” Johnson said.

One new class he’ll be co-teaching in the spring with Professor Steve Cessna is Communication and the Environment. The class will teach students how scientists and advocacy nonprofits communicate about science and the environment, what kinds of strategies they use and will give students a chance to try it themselves.

Professor Tara Kishbaugh, dean of 91����Ƶ’s School of Sciences, Engineering, Arts and Nursing, said Johnson exemplifies the value of a liberal arts education in reflecting the importance of communication skills and multidisciplinary work.

“Steven’s focus on communication of conservation needs aligns well with our science programs, particularly those in environmental science, and is one of many reasons why I am happy to have the arts within my school,” Kishbaugh said. “91����Ƶ students, both within and outside the arts programs, can benefit from Steven’s expertise and his thoughtful way of living out his values in his teaching and his art.”

Director and editor: Lindsey Kolb ’07
Assistants: Anne Diller ’14, Erica Garber ’14, Jessica Hostetler ’08 and Michael Sheeler ’13
Lindsey, Anne, Erica and Michael are graduates of 91����Ƶ’s visual and communication arts program (emu.edu/vaca).

Music: “Come Down, O Love Divine,” text by Laudi Spirituali del Bianoco da Siena, 1851; tr. Ricard F. Littledale People’s Hymnal, 1867, alt. Arranged by Seth Crissman ’09. Performed and recorded by The Walking Roots Band (thewalkingrootsband.com), a Harrisonburg-based folk/bluegrass/roots band made up of friends (many of whom are 91����Ƶ graduates) who come together to make music.

“Pax Bellissima,” which means “beautiful peace” in Latin, uses three mediums to illustrate and articulate the use of arts as a practice of reflection and transformation in peacebuilding.

“We talk at 91����Ƶ about being ‘reflective practitioners’ who use our right and left brains to process and prepare our work,” says Schirch. “The show includes my pottery, paintings and photographs – but the point is not these products. The point of the show is the process of making these art forms.”

Drawing on artistic inspiration from Gustav Klimt to Sigmar Polke and from the Italian Renaissance to Indigenous art, Schirch explains that the show relates her work in Washington and Afghanistan to coming to terms with the costs and challenges of peacebuilding efforts and her own Mennonite heritage.

The show is presented by 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) and the Visual and Communication Arts department.

91����Ƶ (91����Ƶ) students, intrigued by Terry’s story of commitment and humility, will present a documentary, “Weaving Life,” that explores his life, work and tragic death, Friday, April 27 at 6 p.m. in the .

“Dan and his family spent 40 years devoted to the people, the culture, and the landscapes of Afghanistan,” said , media arts and peacebuilding professor at 91����Ƶ who oversaw the 16 students who worked on the documentary.

Glen Lapp, , and Brian Carderelli, a videographer and resident of Harrisonburg, were among the 10 workers who were killed along with Terry. The team was returning to Kabul from a medical relief trip to northern Afghanistan when they were ambushed.

Special guests at the Friday showing will include members of the Terry, Lapp and Carderelli families, as well as Jonathan Larson, an international aid worker and life-long friend of Dan Terry.

A talkback after the viewing, which is 57 minutes long, will provide opportunity for audience members to interact with the student producers and special guests.

The student production team spent the spring semester gathering video footage, photos and stories, as well as conducting interviews across the U.S.

The showing is free and open to the public.

This event is jointly hosted by the 91����Ƶ Visual and Communication Arts department, 91����Ƶ’s and , also located in Harrisonburg.

MennoMedia, which produces documentaries through participation in the Electronic Programming Committee of the , will prepare the student-produced video for airing on ABC stations in the fall.