Bald Eagle on osprey stand.
By MADDY VITALE
Dan Jamison was angry. He was bitter. He went from being a successful insurance broker to living at his parent’s Sea Isle City home rehabilitating from a horrific motorcycle crash that left him with a traumatic brain injury.
“I had a big life and it all came crashing down on Oct. 3, 2014,” Jamison, 48, said in an interview Sunday, of the day that a car hit his Harley while he was riding with a friend in Lansdale, Pa.
“I was on life support for five weeks at Jefferson Hospital. I was not supposed to live. I had tubes in every part of my body,” said Jamison, a father of two grown boys. “I wasn’t there for most of it, but once I woke up, I had a long recovery ahead.”
Dan Jamison taking photos from a beach in Sea Isle.
Sitting on his parents' deck every day and night, he rediscovered the beauty around him. He watched the eagles, the ospreys, the otters, the night sky and sunrise.
Jamison bought a camera and he learned how to use it.
“During recovery, you battle depression and rage and the feeling that you have lost everything,” he said.
In 2019 he bought a high-end camera and skillfully takes photos of the nature he sees.
Jamison took this photo of a baby fox on the dune at First Street and Landis Avenue.
He takes photos from his deck. He takes shots of surfers, the ocean, the beach, and any nature and wildlife that he sees and appreciates and thinks others will too.
“My parents have been great. My sons Danny and Quinn too and my ex-wife, but the camera I think is what saved me. It has given me peace,” he said. “I shoot pictures for my mental health.”
He does not take the photos for money. He takes them to share on his Instagram and Facebook pages to be enjoyed.
And it is also an escape for Jamison, a moment in time when he is not that successful insurance broker who was injured in a motorcycle accident.
Jamison captured this photo of a bald eagle on an osprey stand.
Instead, he is a talented amateur photographer.
“With the camera, I get to be behind the scenes, which is so wonderful now. People don’t really bother you,” he said.
One person familiar with Jamison’s talents is Kristin Gallagher, an Ocean City resident who grew up in Sea Isle. Her daughters, Brynn and Mia, are accomplished surfers who compete on the national level.
Gallagher met Jamison during a surfing competition in Sea Isle and said she was "amazed" by his photos.
Though Jamison has physical and emotional scars from the 2014 crash, and he continues therapy, he is optimistic about what the future holds.
“I am at a point now that I am ready for the next step and I have hope. Photography gives me hope," Jamison said. "I would say I’m in a good spot. For the first time in a long time, while I wouldn’t say I am happy, I am getting there. Things are looking up.”
A surfer in Sea Isle photographed by Jamison in 2021.
