John Wernega has a passion for color and form. He sees the world as art and thrives on capturing it in his photography. John’s nighttime photos capture bright, vivid colors from illuminated buildings, statues, and skylines. Many of John’s photos have a golden hue caused by the lighting of a sunset. John also finds cheer in cloudy overcasts, since they bring out the rich colors in floral shots. He often includes reflections from water in his photographs and finds satisfaction in working with puddles, since they are nearly free of ripples. John never uses Photoshop or adds colors digitally. However, he occasionally uses colored filters to embellish nighttime scenes. Most of his work represents the natural colors of the light shining at the time.

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Music is a way of life for John Wernega. He teaches instrumental, choral, and general music at the Quinton Township School in Salem County, NJ. John also directs the choir and plays organ at Saint Agnes Church (Our Lady of Hope Parish) in Blackwood, NJ. He is the music arranger for the Fralinger String Band, and he has written their scores for the past eleven years, boasting eight consecutive first prizes from 2003-2010. John also plays various wind instruments with the Original Hobo Band of Pitman, NJ, trumpet with the Congress Street Brass Band, and percussion with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey. He has also arranged music for these groups from time to time in the past. John began reaching out to his roots in 2005 by studying the Ukrainian language. He visited his relatives in Ukraine five times since then, and he has sung with several Ukrainian choirs in Philadelphia. John has a masters in music education from Westminster Choir College. He was teacher of the year at Quinton School in 1997 and also received the Governer's Teacher Award that year. This past spring John was inducted into the Mummers Hall of Fame as a result of the winning scores he wrote for Fralinger.