When I parked at beach access ramp #4 along Cape Hatteras National Seashore on January 10, 2024 I had no ideas about what I might photograph, only that sunset might provide opportunity. What I needed was a walk. Walking clears my head and is often associated, for...
For several years I've been over-wintering in North Carolina's Outer Banks. There's a set of conditions that will always have me driving north towards this bright yellow Art Nouveau home at Corolla Historic Park: calm (no wind) and clear (no clouds). In my limited...
My mother always feared the Bonner Bridge! And for good reason. It was routinely ranked as one of the worst bridges in America. Like spoiled milk, the Bonner had long passed it's stated expiration date. By the early 2000's, the bridge--built in 1963--had long...
Flexibility in the field is something I pride myself on. I shoot what the landscape tells me to shoot. No plan's so set in stone that I won't pivot and take advantage of natural gifts in my path. And on this evening, it was Cannonball Jellyfish. I walked past the...
Travel was shut down in 2020 as we all wrapped our heads around the novel coronavirus. That meant no trip to Charleston, South Carolina for me. Instead, I began to focus my attention on documenting the spring ephemeral wildflowers in my local parks. The Potomac...
March is all about the Lowcountry of South Carolina. There's no comparable in my annual photography travels. Color. So much color. The most amazing trees. Draping heavy to the ground--and below--and then back up again. Flowers. Riotous azalea. Spicy vanilla...
I'm partial to Oconee Bell wildflowers! Perhaps it's because I lived in Upstate South Carolina for almost a decade. I moved from Northern Virginia to Upstate South Carolina for college at Clemson University. After leaving for work, I returned again for a second...
March is about the forest floor. Life is anew. Spring ephemeral wildflowers begin to crowd the dirt, displacing last year's leaf litter with their hunger for sunlight. One of the first wildflowers to show at Riverbend Regional Park along the Potomac Heritage Trail...
As February draws to a close, it's time again for me to turn my attention away from the coast and into the forest. Life is certainly on the cusp of popping out of the thick leaf litter once again. And decay. Mushrooms and fungi. Like the False Turkey Tail Mushrooms...
"And then, some morning in the second week, the mind wakes, comes to life again. Not in a city sense--no--but beach-wise. It begins to drift, to play, to turn over in gentle careless rolls like those lazy waves on the beach. One never knows what chance treasures...
When I was a boy--aside from the obvious ball sports like basketball and football--I spent my time with a bunch of matchbox cars that I liked to line up and organize every day. I'm not sure what I got out of that. I also had a bunch of marbles and crayons. I've...
As a kid, my family always went to the Outer Banks in the heat of summer. I came to love the Outer Banks during summer. First, it was simply spending all day long in the waves. Not coming out until my eyes were bloodshot and my skin sunburned. Then, it was...
The Scotch Bonnet is considered, by many, to be the holy grail of beachcombing finds in North Carolina. This little three-inch long, plaid checkered sea snail shell is quite a difficult find. Oddly enough, the Scotch Bonnet was deemed the official state shell of...
Did you know that sea pottery, or sea china, was a thing? I didn't! Sea pottery is shards of broken earthenware that has undergone the same process as sea glass: broken, tumbled, smoothed and spit back into the shell hash with the tides. When I first started...
I've always loved the potential of this shot. Sidelight at sunrise. Reflective when calm. A balance of urban environment and natural world. I think there is a spectacular frame just waiting at this location. What I don't like is everything about getting there and...
New home for sale: priced to move. Bargain. May have dings, dents, and considerable blemish to the finish. Spacious interior. Unconditioned space. Single occupancy preferred. Best offers only. Shark-Eye Moon Snail Shell found along Cape Hatteras National...
February means the end of winter for me: it signals the start of the great spring bloom. I don't much care for the daffodils that decorate suburban lawns and manicured gardens. I do, however, get very excited about the return of natives like trillium and bluebells....
Happy #stackersaturday! It always gives me a kick thinking about what is considered acceptable, honorable uses of ones time, energy and effort. And, on the flip side, what is considered wasteful, unproductive, and ultimately unacceptable. I've spent twelve hour days...
This was one of those poor-planning-lazy-wakeup-didn't-quite-get-to-my-location-on-time type of photographs! By the time we cruised around the circle in front of the historic Bodie Island Lighthouse, the sky was already doing its thing. I just pulled the car onto...
When I'm in Northern Virginia my go-to location is always Great Falls Park on the Potomac River. From the cascading waterfall to the cliff walls of Mather Gorge, there is always something interesting to find and photograph. On this particular winter morning, I found...
When I'm home during the slower winter months, my mother and I like to head over to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. The gardens have a particularly vibrant display of annual Witch Hazel blooms. Witch Hazel is a deciduous flowering shrub that shows...
Pure seascapes are something I love to shoot. Nothing but the ocean and the sky. The interface between land and water; marine and terrestrial. Moving water is mesmerizing to me and so fun to shoot behind the lens. Add some good light and all the ingredients are...
Happy Valentine's Day, folks! When I lived in Upstate South Carolina I drove NC-107 frequently to access the Chattooga River and to get up to the Blue Ridge Escarpment. Silver Run Falls, a small waterfall near Cashiers, North Carolina, was just off the roadside. The...
After several successful winters, I was baited into extending my typical one-month stay into a two-month adventure including February. It didn't go well. January was a bust. Weather was cold and wet. My productivity was minimal. February was much the same. There...
I saw a photograph by Susannah (@lulannah) on Instagram of lichen on an American Holly tree within Nags Head Woods Preserve. The lichen was bright red and spread in patches of varying intensity over the light gray bark of the tree. It was amazing! I was instantly...
Day two of showing Kristi Parsons around the Outer Banks began with lots of potential. The calm conditions from the night before held on over night; the forecast called for reflective sunrise conditions. Skies were crowded with clouds. Everything was lining up...
In 2019 I teamed up with Kristi Parsons to put together a 2020 Spirit of the Southern Appalachian Mountains calendar. Kristi's efforts to sell the calendar were so successful that we decided to use the profits to spend a week in the Outer Banks, a place Kristi had...