The People Behind Field Guide

Steve Amen (Executive Producer/Host)

Steve Amen has been with Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) for more than twenty years. Prior to coming to OPB, he spent seven years in commercial news as a producer, reporter, executive producer and news director. Since joining OPB, Amen has headed up numerous documentary projects including the Oregon Story series and HBO's "Teen Killers: A Second Chance". His projects have received one national and seven regional Emmys as well as awards from CINE, The New York Film Festival and The American Film/Video Festival.

Ed Jahn (Producer)

Ed Jahn came to Oregon Field Guide from Rocky Mountain PBS in Denver. As Producer of the outdoor life program Spirit of Colorado he earned five regional Emmy Awards, and has earned four Emmy Awards as a producer for Oregon Field Guide. Ed was also awarded a Society of Environmental Journalists Award for "In-Depth Reporting on the Environment". He has worked in television programming, technical operations, news and production throughout the U.S.

Jim Newman (Producer/Reporter)

Jim Newman is a veteran news producer with more than twenty-seven years experience in television production. Prior to coming to OPB, he worked at WCCO-TV where he headed up his own investigative consumer unit and contributed reports to CBS News and CNN. Since joining OPB, Newman has also produced several international and national documentaries.

Vince Patton (Producer/Reporter)

Vince Patton joins Oregon Field Guide after 27 years in television news, most recently as environmental reporter at KGW in Portland. He was a reporter and Managing Editor WFAA in Dallas, Texas and a reporter and anchor at KAKE in Wichita, Kansas. He’s been honored with 4 regional Emmy Awards, a national top documentary award from the Society of Environmental Journalists and he spent 9 months as a Knight Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.

Todd Sonflieth (Senior Videographer/Editor)

Todd Sonflieth has been the OFG Chief Videographer since the inception of the show in 1988. He has shot and edited hundreds of Oregon Field Guide segments. Sonflieth also is credited with working on numerous OPB local and national productions. They include the Emmy award winning Oregon Story: Country Doctors and the OPB/PBS series History Detectives. The Oregon Portraits two part series was produced by Sonflieth, and it continues to be very popular programming during OPB fundraising pledge drives.

Nick Fisher (Senior Videographer/Editor)

Emmy Award-winning videographer Nick Fisher began his journalism career as a news photographer, then joined OPB in 1996 as a videographer and editor for Oregon Field Guide. In addition to his work on OFG, he has shot many documentaries for OPB and PBS, including Lighthouses of Alaska, Great Lodges of the National Parks, Sinking the Lusitania and many episodes of The Oregon Story. Nick especially loves doing stories in the back-country and other remote locations.

Michael Bendixen (Senior Videographer/Editor)

Michael studied journalism and science at the University of Oregon and the University of Hawaii. He's worked for Oregon Sea Grant and NOAA and is passionate about shooting in inclement weather, hanging off rock walls, and deep underwater. Michael's an avid mountaineer, rock climber, scuba diver, river rafter, snow camper, and surfer.