Dr. Leo Dean Jansen, Warsaw, has developed an eye for professional quality photography. Landscapes, portraits, scenics and animals are have been his genre for the past seven years. At least five of his photos have been chosen as the National Geographic’s Internet YourShot daily 12 photos. He is shown with a photograph of a baby baboon he took while visiting the Serengeti. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

WARSAW —The profession of Dr. Leo Dean Jansen improves the lives of individuals suffering from conditions and injuries relating to orthopedics. But outside of work, Jansen is a photographer with an eye capturing the unusual and beauty the world has to offer.

The walls at his practice are filled with photographs he has taken on trips to the seven continents of the world. He has compiled approximately 30 books of photographs ranging from family activities and events, to trips, topics and more.

But more unique is he has had five photographs chosen by National Geographic editors to make the daily dozen on Yourshot in the last 2 ½ years. Four of these photos have been scenic shots, one of an animal. You can see his submitted photos by searching his name at yourshot.nationalgeographic.com.

He’s also entered the daily photo contests on the website GuruShot, where four photos can be submitted daily and points are accumulated based on the number of likes. “I’ve been doing that for 2 ½ years as well. My status, they have different levels of rank, is a guru status there. There are 12 levels you can have,” Jansen stated. The guru status is the highest.

Jansen was also named a winner in the Warsaw Community Public Library photo contest two years ago and has recently entered a photo contest in Wabash focusing on the subject of water and has submitted a photo taken in Iceland.

Jansen has always been involved in photography to some degree. “I went to Europe in my 20s and bought a film camera there. I shot like 30 rolls of film there in Europe and had about three photos I liked, out of hundreds,” he stated. From there his interest in photography expanded.

It was seven years ago an interchangeable lens camera was purchased before going on his first trip to Africa. “That’s when I started getting more serious about photography. Every little increment of improvement, technology wise, I got with my photos, it made me try to get better stills. About four years ago I went to the professional level photo equipment with higher sensors in the camera, higher end lenses. It kind of evolved up to this current state.”

His photographs include animals, landscapes, scenics and portraits. “People like my landscapes the best … so that’s what I shoot. I always like the wildlife. But you have a lot more opportunity to shoot landscape than wildlife … .”

His eye for photography is “more about diligence and persistence than about any magical skill,” Jansen said. “The better photographers know a good picture when they see one … photographers often times see that magical shot when it’s in the view finder or on their computer. They know a good image when they see it.”

Jansen, who uses a tripod and a single focal lens for most of his photos, notes a lot of his photos are his versions of photos taken by someone else he has seen. Recently on a trip to Oregon, there were two places he wanted to go that would have the best photos — Oneonta Gorge and Bandon Beach. “When I shot my thousand pictures and came back home, the pictures that turned out the best were at Oneonta Gorge and Bandon Beach. I knew ahead of time … these areas are the most photogenic.”