He’s photographed everyone and everything from Will Ferrell to NASA’s latest space mission. Now, the Ventura County native is on the other side of the lens. He’s one of the featured people in a new series about amazing photographers which premieres on the National Geographic Channel March 18.
Now, the camera is being turned in the other direction. Dan Winters, who’s from Ventura County, is being profiled in a new National Geographic series about photographers.
Winters admits he didn’t start out with the dream of being a photographer.
"I grew up in between Moorpark and Somis, and went to Moorpark High School, and Moorpark College," said Winters. "I was from a very early age interested in film, and very interested in special effect, and miniatures."
"I used to build my models, and film them, and dress my friends up like they were soldiers, and make army movies, and science fiction movies.
His modeling work took off, and he was getting work before he was even out of high school. But, as he took photos of the models he created, he discovered he liked photography.
"The photography at some point just kind of won out," said Winters. "The idea of it being a career path was never really considered, but as time went on, it became pretty clear that was what my calling was."
It led to a job at a now defunct Conejo Valley newspaper. He found he loved doing portraits.
"I worked at the Thousand Oaks News Chronicle as a general assignment photographer." said Winters. I think we all find our niche. I really liked the assignments I was doing for the lifestyle page, which were mostly portraits." Most of the other photographers liked doing action photos like sports, so he would often swap assignments with them.
He eventually left to focus on portraits, but realized he would need to broaden his work to survive professionally.
"My first portfolio was really portrait-heavy," said Winters. He was doing portrait work for magazines, but Winters knew he needed to do other things to remain stimulated. He began taking other kinds of assignments as well.
His portfolio is a who’s who of society and culture. Winters photographed everyone from Bernie Sanders to Brad Pitt, and subjects as diverse as NASA’s Artemis moon landing project, to California’s citrus crops.
One of his favorite shoots was Fred Rogers, better known to us as Mr. Rogers, from the PBS series Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
He says some of his favorite work isn’t of a celebrity, or a famous event. It’s images he’s captured of his wife, and son.
Winters says being on the other side of a camera lens for the National Geographic documentary has been interesting for him. He says when he shoots a portrait, he sits down with the subject first to talk about it, so they are both comfortable. The documentary crew did the same thing with him.
The photographer talks about what he hopes people take away from the portraits he shoots. "It allows viewer to access that person in a way where they've kind of let their guard down," said Winters. He said it's like a quiet, intimate moment where they've connected with them.
The National Geographic Series Photographer drops on Disney+ and Hulu Tuesday, with all seven episodes, including the one about Winters available. Then, on March 25, the episode featuring Winters will air on the National Geographic Channel.
