Barbara Jordan was born and raised in Long Beach, California. In 1966 she moved to Redlands, California where she and her husband raised their four children, Tony, Syd, Jaimi and Stacie. In 1977, after a divorce, Barbara went to work in the criminal justice field. In 1983, she married Donald W. Jordan, a criminal defense attorney. Barbara and Don now reside in Sugarloaf, California. The marriage brought three step-children into Barbara's life, Ken, Kate and Dan. Barbara and Don now have eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Barbara begin studying photography through the University of California at Santa Cruz and the New York Institute of Photography. She also studied through workshops with some of the country's leading photographers. After attending a Death Valley workshop with black and white photographers Rod Dresser and Richard Newman, Barbara became fascinated with black and white photography and darkroom work. She immediately built a darkroom in her home. In 1996, Barbara's first limited edition Black and White series was printed. Barbara now photographs in both color and black and white.

Barbara was first published in The Best Of Photography Annual: 1995 by Serbin Communications. In 1995 she was a finalist in the Sierra Club's annual photography contest. She has received commendations for her work from the National Wildlife Federation. In January of 1997, Barbara had her first article, Garbage Bear, published. Since that time she has had many photographs, and articles published in the United States, Canada, South American and in Europe. Her credits include National Geographic, National Geographic Books, Swiss Air, Turner South, Shutterbug Magazine, Inland Empire Magazine, Jetsetting, First Air of Canada, On the Mountain, Tamdeia AG, MTV; ?The Best of Nature Photography, Images and Techniques of the Pros? a book by Amherst Media, newspapers, local magazines and numerous websites. Several evironmental organizations have featured Barbara's work, such as the Endangered Species Coalition, Environmental Protection Agency and Save the Estuaries. Barbara's work has been used commercially by numerous advertising agencies in Europe and the United States. Barbara?s fine art prints are in private collections around the world. In December of 2009, Barbara published her first book, "The Beauty of the Moment".