Featured artist: James Heupel

September 1st-30th, 2026

James Heupel, local Fredericksburg resident and international wildlife and nature photographer, will present a showing of wildlife photographs from around the world at the Fredericksburg Art Guild’s Artist of the Month on Friday, September 4, from 4 p.m. to   7 p.m.

 He will present short talks at 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm on the rescue, rehabilitation and return to the wild of orphaned elephants in central and southern Kenya. The Fredericksburg Art Guild is located at 309 East Austin Street, just two buildings down from the Fredericksburg Welcome Center.

Over the last 19 years as a professional photographer, Heupel has photographed from the Arctic to Antarctica, Asia, Africa numerous times, Europe and throughout the Americas.

His primary focus in wildlife photography is to try to show the intimate, often unseen aspects of wildlife which most people do not have the ability or time to see in the wild, but which he has been blessed to photograph through so much time in the wild.

Heupel was awarded Judges Choice in international competition by the North American Nature Photography Association in 2016 and has received several other Showcase Awards from them.

He was the founder and managing partner of Gallery 195, a fine art gallery in Boerne, Texas, from 2017 to 2024. He was previously an associate judge of the Fredericksburg Municipal Court for over 15 years and retired from the U.S. Air Force as its Chief Trial Judge.