Tacoma photographer’s perfectly timed capture of baby eagles appears on new USPS stamp sheet
Craig Goodwin, ’91, goes down in postal history with his photo of an eagle family on the selvage of a new stamp sheet.
Craig Goodwin, ’91, a nature photographer living in North Tacoma, joins fellow UW alumnus Bruce Lee in postage stamp news this year. His photo of two baby bald eagles in a nest with their parent appears on the selvage of a new USPS Forever Stamp called “Bald Eagle: Hatchling to Adult.”
The stamp features five illustrations of bald eagles progressing through life stages. It was designed by Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS. The stamp artwork is based on illustrations by ornithologist and artist David Allen Sibley, while the selvage features Goodwin’s eye-catching photo.
Selvage, in the stamp world, is the paper on the margins of a stamp or sheet of stamps, sometimes left blank. Stamp collectors, otherwise known as philatelists, place value on selvage as it keeps stamp sheets intact and makes it easier for future collectors to identify the stamp’s place in history.
Goodwin grew up in Kent before attending the UW’s Foster School of Business and graduating with a degree in marketing. “My junior year [at the UW], I sensed a call to go into pastoral ministry,” Goodwin told the Spokesman-Review in 2018. He worked for a year at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle before moving to California to earn his doctorate in seminary and pursue ministry. After 21 years, he left the ministry to focus on photography full-time. Now, he works as a professional photographer near Tacoma.
Goodwin’s work has been featured everywhere from magazine covers to National Geographic’s Instagram feed.
His advice for budding photographers has nothing to do with high-tech cameras and lenses. “I always encourage people to start by finding something in nature they are fascinated by,” says Goodwin, who took the eagle family photo in Coeur d’Alene several years ago when he lived in Spokane. “Great images will grow from that fascination. Instead of starting with questions about gear or techniques, start with a passion for the subject matter.”
“Bald Eagle: Hatchling to Adult” was officially released in May at the USPS First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn., which Goodwin attended. The stamp artwork by Noyes shows bald eagles progressing from hatchlings to eaglets, juveniles and adults.
“While the bald eagle is known to virtually all Americans as our national bird, few people know much about them,” Sibley said in a USPS statement. “Showing the series of life stages in these stamps is a simple and visual way to emphasize that the familiar adult eagle has already lived for at least four years—surviving all of life’s challenges. I hope these stamps spark curiosity and a greater appreciation for the lives of eagles.”