Wellbeing first
No photograph comes before the subject. I work to minimize my impact, respect the behavior of each species and understand when it is time to move closer, wait or simply put the camera away.
10+ years
Exploring · Photographing · Learning
- Nature photographer
- Biologist
- Herpetologist
- Educator
- Conservationist
- Founder · Keeping Nature Tours
My story
A life learning to look
I am Jhonattan Vanegas Guerrero, a Colombian nature photographer, biologist and herpetologist. For more than a decade, my work has taken me across ecosystems, watching species and discovering that behind every encounter there is a story worth knowing.
My training as a biologist taught me to ask questions, observe behavior and understand the relationships that sustain life. Photography gave me another tool: the ability to turn those encounters into images that can spark curiosity, emotion and connection.
Much of my story has unfolded among the forests, rivers and mountains of Colombia, especially in search of amphibians and reptiles. But my curiosity has no borders. I want to keep traveling the world, learning from its species, ecosystems, cultures and people, and using photography to share the stories I find along the way.
As a herpetologist I have taken part in research and fieldwork on amphibians and reptiles, and I am the author or co-author of scientific publications. That experience still shapes the way I photograph: knowing the subject, understanding its behavior and respecting its wellbeing always comes before getting an image.
Over time I also understood that my work does not end when I take a photograph. That is why I teach, share knowledge and create nature experiences through Keeping Nature Tours, a project born to bring more people closer to biodiversity through photography, learning and exploration.
Today, each of those facets (photographer, biologist, herpetologist, educator and traveler) is part of a single search: learning to look at the world with more attention and helping others find their own way of connecting with it and telling its story.
Purpose
To inspire people to reconnect with nature through photography, knowledge and experience; to observe with more attention, understand what they share with other living beings and find their own way of telling the stories of the planet.
Because when we learn to look at nature differently, something also changes in the way we look at ourselves.
Keeping Nature Tours
Founder of Keeping Nature Tours
Keeping Nature Tours began in 2019 as a dream: to create a different way to travel, learn and connect with nature.
After years traveling across Colombia, I understood that one of the most powerful ways to bring people closer to biodiversity was to let them live it. Not only to show them a photograph, but to take them to the place where that story happens. That is how Keeping was born, a project that started by bringing together some of the things that have shaped my life the most: nature, photography, science, travel and learning.
Since then we have created experiences around photography and wildlife observation, traveling across extraordinary ecosystems alongside photographers, travelers, biologists, guides and local communities. Every outing is a chance to slow down, learn to observe and understand a little better the species and territories we find along the way.
Over the years, Keeping has also become a space for teaching. But for me, Keeping has always been more than traveling or taking photographs. It is the chance to create real encounters with nature. To come home with images and memories, but also with questions, lessons and a different connection to the world.
What began as a dream in 2019 keeps growing, exploring new territories and finding new stories to tell.
Keeping Nature Tours is my invitation to go out, observe and experience biodiversity firsthand.
Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha Friend
I am part of the Sony Alpha community as a Sony Alpha Friend. A relationship that grew out of something very simple: trusting the tools that are with me when I am doing what I love most, exploring and photographing nature.
In the field I work in conditions I can rarely control. The light changes, the animals move and an encounter often lasts only a few seconds. That is why I need gear that lets me focus less on the camera and more on what truly matters: observing, anticipating and being present.
Sony Alpha has become part of that process. It is with me from the tiny details of macro photography to birds, wildlife and the landscapes I find along the way.
But my relationship with Sony goes beyond the gear. Photography is also a way to share what I find, bring others closer to biodiversity and teach them to find their own way of looking at and telling the world.
Sony Alpha benefit
Thinking about upgrading your gear?
As a Sony Alpha Friend, I can share a benefit with you on eligible purchases at the official Sony store.
Code
KNT5
Explore Sony Alpha
Check terms, eligible products and validity directly at the Sony store.
The camera is a tool. The story is always right in front of us.
The way I work
Some principles come before any photograph.
Photographing nature carries a responsibility. Every time I step into an ecosystem I am a visitor, and no image justifies needlessly altering an animal's behavior or putting its wellbeing at risk. These are some of the principles that guide the way I observe, photograph and share the natural world.
Know before you photograph
A good image begins long before the shutter. Knowing a species, observing its behavior and understanding the ecosystem it lives in lets me photograph with more respect, intention and context.
Tell, not just show
I am not only interested in recording what a species looks like. I look for images that can spark curiosity, reveal behaviors and tell the stories I find in nature.
Share to connect
A photograph takes on another dimension when it starts a conversation. That is why I share images, knowledge and experiences that invite others to observe more closely and find their own relationship with nature.
Recognition
Recognition and background
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2022
Best Environmental Denunciation Photo
Agenda del Mar
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2021
Photography recognition
Agenda del Mar
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2012
Biodiversity research support
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
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Bioarte
Photography recognition
Bioarte
In the media: Revista Enfoque Visual · RowZine · La Crónica.
Collaborations
Brands and organizations
Throughout my career I have collaborated with brands and organizations connected to photography, research and nature.
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Sony
Sony Alpha Friend. Nature photography, education and experiences around the image.
See the Alpha collective -
F-Stop Gear
A collaboration connected to nature photography and fieldwork.
See profile -
Topara
Collaborations around nature, photography and field experiences.
Visit Topara -
Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)
Biodiversity research and fieldwork, as part of my background as a biologist and herpetologist.
Visit WCS
Trusted by
Let's work together.
Commissions, image licensing, workshops or conservation collaborations. I would love to hear about your project.
Contact