Photo Credit: James Ouellette
Don Komarechka is a Canadian nature and macro photographer now living near Varna, Bulgaria. From auroras to pollen, insects to infrared, much of Don’s photographic adventures reveal a deeper understanding of how the universe works. Exploring the world that we cannot see with our own eyes has been a common thread in Don’s career as a professional photographer.
Don teaches workshops in the areas of nature and macro photography, as well as photographic editing and creative compositions. “Photography is about sharing your unique view of the world with others – without using words. Helping others accomplish the same goal is extremely rewarding. I like to see the world through my camera in ways I normally cannot see with my own eyes. Seeing the world beyond vision is a gift that photography gives me.”
Don has written two mass-produced books on the subjects of snowflakes and macro photography. His work has been featured on pure silver coins from the Royal Canadian Mint in 2017, 2018, 2023 and 2024. His highly detailed macro photography has also been featured on a United States postage stamp in the “Life Magnified” series. Don has been published by Scientific American, The New York Times, National Geographic, Outdoor Photographer, and many other publications.
Don worked with BBC to create the title footage for the documentary series “Forces of Nature”. Credited as a macro photographer in the Discovery documentary “Mosquito”, his ultraviolet fluorescence imagery and complex focus stacking was used extensively in the film. Contributions have also been made to the National Geographic series “One Strange Rock” and its sequel. Don continues to work with documentary film projects from major studios that require technical, exact, and artistic imagery to convey narratives in a microscopic scale.
Don has been featured on camera for three episodes of the Discovery series “Don’t Blink”: Out of Sight, Because it’s Beautiful, and A Delicate Balance. He was also featured in an episode of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki titled “Chasing Snowflakes”. Don has also produced a number of videos for DPReview TV and is featured in an episode of bTV Разказва.
Always science-minded but never formally trained, Don uses photography as a way to explore and understand the world around him. Photographing something unusual or unknown is the perfect excuse to learn something new. Don’s work often pushes up against the technical limitations of modern camera equipment and the physical limitations of light itself.
“Pushing the limits of light while still producing visually stunning images is my passion. If someone is captivated enough to re-evaluate the world around them, I’ve done my job.”
Watch this short behind-the-scenes video of Don Komarechka discussing the ultraviolet photographic techniques he used for the Discovery documentary “Mosquito”:
