Longtime Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) photographer Jim Koepnick is as versatile as he is skilled. Which makes it all the more surprising that airplanes aren’t necessarily his passion. It’s the people in aviation he most connects with. “After about 40 years of photographing airplanes, it is a big part of my career and my life, and I am grateful for what it has given me, the doors it has opened for me, and the friendships that have formed over all of those years,” he said.
Koepnick is an Oshkosh, Wisconsin, area native who grew up loving photography. He started at the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper in 1979 and learned aviation through covering EAA AirVenture. In 1984, he was hired as chief photographer at EAA where he worked for 28 years. Today, he’s freelancing for local media, aviation magazines, and as an ambassador for Sigma photo lenses. Koepnick’s career has grown from quick-turnaround photojournalism with a 35-mm camera to a range of formats and technologies at EAA, into the hybrid area with digital, to full digital, and now a range of artistic shoots as a brand ambassador. “I’ve sort of seen it all,” he said. “It makes me feel old, but it’s pretty cool.”
Jim Koepnick
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