About

Duncan R. Neilson, Jr., MD

I was born in Coulee Dam, Washington where my dad was assigned as the town doctor for the crew building the third power house in the early 1940’s as part of the war effort. My family moved to Oregon when I was very young, and I was raised and attended public school in Portland. I have been intensely interested in birds since I was a child—I joined the Audubon Society of Portland when I was 10 years old, attended many events and bird walks, and often accompanied my uncle Ronald Neilson and with his friend Charles Conkling (who is well-known for his photographic Steens Mountain book) on photographic trips, and then straight into the color photographic darkroom where my uncle was learning the art of dye-transfer printing.

I graduated from Reed College with a degree in Biology. After college, I married Rosalie Bechtold (we just celebrated our 54th wedding anniversary), and we moved to Baltimore where I studied Medicine. While completing residency and fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and Medical School, I continued my photographic studies by converting our apartment bathroom into a photo darkroom. When we returned to Portland with our young family in 1974, in addition to practicing medicine (OB-GYN), I began studying photography and color photographic printing with Leonard Conkling, son of Charles Conkling. We made many photographic trips together, including to Harney County and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, focusing on bird and landscape photography. I have been visiting the refuge at least annually now for forty-three years. During those early years, I had the privilege of knowing John Scharff, as the Scharff and Conkling families had been friends for many years prior.

I founded my own photographic studio, Natural Reflections, in 1980, specializing in production of high quality photographic prints, both black-and-white and color. While I have grown to love landscape and flower photography, my primary interest has always been birds—I love the challenge of trying to create expressive images of these beautiful creatures in their natural habitats.

My work has been exhibited in both mixed and solo gallery shows, primarily at the Camerawork Gallery in Portland. I have participated in the Portland Audubon Society Wild Arts Festival since 1991, and also in the Migratory Bird Festival in Burns since 1995. My photographic work decorates many offices and homes in the Portland area, as well as in other parts of the U.S. Currently I am represented by the Freed Gallery in Lincoln City and by the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery in Portland.