About Donald Verger

"When Don Verger first took up photography seriously, he asked me to review his early work. I studied it and told him he could be the next Ansel Adams. That's a true story, and the intervening years have proven me right. This talented, award winning photographer is one of those once-in-a-lifetime artists whose work establishes their reputation for generations to come." --Daniel Cheever President Emeritus, Simmons College Art collector

Donald Verger is a critically-acclaimed, award-winning photographer and Founder and President Emeritus of the world-renowned Children's Discovery Museum and Science Discovery Museum in New England. His visionary work at these discovery museums was featured in two episodes of the PBS television series “Curious George.”

Donald Verger’s stunning landscape photography, reminiscent of the legendary work of Ansel Adams, is notable for its quiet, ethereal beauty and subtle nuances of light. His art form is well served in his iconic image, “Dawn of Peace,” which he photographed at 30 degrees below zero as the sun was rising and creating sea smoke over Thompson Lake in Otisfield, Maine. Verger is also widely recognized for his dramatic lighthouse images of Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and Nubble Light in York, Maine.

Verger was born in Brooklyn, NY, where he remembers taking trips to the Bronx Zoo with his parents. With camera in hand, the 8-year old Verger would patiently wait for just the precise moment in nature to capture an image of a tiny bird, or an enormous elephant. Verger continued his passion for photography throughout his adolescence and adult life. A graduate of both Phillips Academy and Clark University, he considers his education at Andover as the “foundation and formative years” for his photography work, when he was largely inspired by his photography instructor, William Bentley. Verger’s greatest influence and inspiration, however, continues to be the work of Ansel Adams.

Donald Verger is highly regarded for making generous donations of his nature photography, which is acknowledged for its spiritual and healing qualities. Verger has donated his most cherished and loved imagery to Mercy Health System of Maine’s Fore River Campus in Portland, where it is displayed in permanent, rotating galleries. His work also hangs in the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center in Portland and the Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan. In 2007 Verger donated his most beloved image “Dawn of Peace” to support UNICEF, and again in 2009 he donated the image to help raise money for the Innocence Project in New York City. In 2010 Verger donated “October Rose” to the Susan G. Komen® for the Cure.

He has served on numerous boards including Chairperson of UNICEF’s New England Advisory Board, along with members Ted Kennedy and Arnold Hiatt, as well as the board of directors for Wheelock College and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. All of Verger’s philanthropic work benefits families and children.

A member of the Society for East End Arts in Portland, Maine, Donald Verger’s photography has earned him numerous awards and accolades including: “Fryeburg Fair Best in Show 2008,” “Bangor Flower Show First Prize 2008,” and “Fort Williams Art Show First Prize 2008.” In March of 2010, Verger debuted his 2011 Naturescapes Calendar Series featuring his most cherished and sought after images worldwide. This inaugural, limited edition calendar series celebrates twelve months of nature’s glory, from sunrise at Acadia National Park, to the intimate elegance of a single rose. This collectible edition is the only one that will include “Dawn of Peace.”

Donald Verger Fine Art Photography is available for purchase at Longfellow Books in Portland, the Harborview Gift Shop in Portland, the Portland Head Light Museum and Gift Shop, the Nubble Light House Gift Shop in York, Whole Foods in Portland, the Hallmark store in Scarborough, Ember Grove Art Gallery in Portland, Stadler Gallery for Contemporary Art in Kingfield, and on his website atwww.donaldverger.com .

Verger resides in Falmouth, Maine, just footsteps from the ocean, where he captures the early morning moments of nature’s true splendor.