Your Instructors

 Dave Miess

Dave Miess is a landscape photographer based out of Lac du Flambeau, deep in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Dave started his photographic journey in the mid-1970s in the darkroom of Junior High School. In the 1990s, Dave merged his love of the outdoors with his love of photography.

He has been on the art show circuit around the Midwest for over 25 years and runs his Natural Spaces Photography Studio along the shores of Ross Allen Lake in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.

Dave’s work has appeared in The Washington Post, Lake Superior Magazine, as well as other publications. Dave is also a regular contributing photographer with Our Wisconsin Magazine. Dave has received numerous awards for his photography.

Mike Murray

Mike Murray is an award-winning photographer with 15 photography awards to his credit, whose work has gained recognition both throughout the Midwest and nationally. His photographs have been published in the prestigious Handbook of the Birds of the World, one of the most comprehensive references on the world’s bird species. His work has also been featured in galleries throughout Wisconsin and is regularly exhibited and sold at juried art shows across the Midwest.

In addition to his gallery and art-show work, Mike is a major supplier of photographic artwork for the walls of University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, where his images help bring the beauty and tranquility of the natural world into healthcare environments. Through his photography, he combines a passion for nature and the outdoors with a strong artistic vision, creating images that connect with viewers and are designed to be enjoyed for years to come.

 Cassius Callender

Cassius Callender is an award-winning landscape photographer originally from Puerto Rico and now based in Wisconsin. His photographic journey began in 1984, when, at age 14, he took a summer photography class in Old San Juan. After serving 10 years in the U.S. Navy, Cassius returned to photography in 2006, and two years later turned that renewed passion into a professional photography business.

From 2008 through 2019, Cassius exhibited his work at numerous juried art shows throughout the Midwest. Although now retired from the art show circuit, his photography continues to be displayed throughout Wisconsin and is held by private, corporate, hospitality, healthcare, and educational clients. His work can be found at organizations and businesses including the University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin Hospital, Goldstein Advisors, Capital Endodontics, The Edgewater Hotel, Investors Associated LLP, Stoughton Hospital, Delaney’s, Dental Health Associates, and many others.

Cassius is drawn to the natural world at its most dramatic, capturing fleeting moments of light, movement, weather, and atmosphere that reveal landscapes in ways that are often brief and easily missed. Through his photography, he strives to transform those moments into images that convey both the character of a place and the experience of being there.