To know the Southern Appalachian Mountains is to know its plants. This I hold true. So, to know its rare plants is especially important, to me. They are quite literally the little things; the details. A few years ago, friend and photographer, Susan Stamey,...
This waterfall is an old friend. I visit every time I'm in the area. It represents outoor adventure for me. I wasn't even twenty when I moved to South Carolina from the suburbs of Washington D.C. I quickly became aware of the Wild & Scenic Chattooga River, and...
I was having a conversation with friend and photographer, Jim McGovern, during a recent photography adventure in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. He was telling me about his draw towards--and passion for--the wide open spaces of the desert southwestern United...
Visiting Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is always special. It's a place of mountain streams, lush green growth, diversity. But, it's also an incredibly busy National Park, borderd by towns that are comical in their loud shouting for attention and...
Some places just stick with me. I think about them, often long after I visit them. There's more to the place than I was able to convey; better ways to show them. I know that return trips will be required. Brainstorms on what needs to be subtracted and what needs...
I jumped the gun a bit on my spring adventures along the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment. Arriving in early to mid-April, the landscape hadn't yet greened with new growth. I was early. Nature was late. Doesn't matter. Either way, things weren't quite ready. But I...
"If an element of nature is somehow allowing us to access something bigger, that is its spiritual component made manifest. It awards us a glimpse of the unseen." --Rick Rubin, The Creative Act Maidenhair Ferns are a bit of a personal obession of mine, at least for...
March 2025Jocassee GorgesSouth Carolina / Early Spring / MountainsAs late winter wanes and early spring comes on, I usually make an annual trip to the base of the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment, South Carolina. I'm in search of spring ephemerals, the rare and...
While on photo adventure, we found ourselves on the leading edge of the first wave of spring ephemerals. I worried, as the guide, walking into a rich cove of potential botanical treasures, that we might not see much of anything. My timing was based on similar trips...
From my journal (March 2025): Where are the Maidenhair Ferns? I'm anxious to see and photograph the new, juvenile shoots, subjects behind my lens that have become a large part of my spring ephemeral experience. Last season's ferns lay limp across the steep slopes...
The Oconee Bell is more than a wildflower for me. It's a symbol of sorts. When I was eighteen I made a choice to move to South Carolina. Clemson University was one of the few that accepted and welcomed me. It was there that this diminutive, rare wildflower was...
There's a wave of energy that passes through the forest in early spring. It awakens a class of wildflowers known as spring ephemerals. These wildflowers employ a unique strategy of early, small and quick. They are the first adopters of sunlight energy; the fast...
Landscape photography, for me, is like assembling a puzzle. Only this puzzle--the outcome of which is an understanding of place--can be approached and completed from infinite different angles and strategies. The pieces don't follow any particular order or make any...
I'm a morning person. I'll always favor the early hours of day. The way that I feel physically: loose, energized, strong. The way I feel mentally: fresh, hopeful, optimistic, a sea of possibility. I'm relaxed but I'm also primed. The new day is another...
Cliff Saxifrage is an extremely tiny wildflower native to the Southern Appalachian Mountains. It grows in the damndest of places, appearing along the margins of rock outcrops at high elevation. I've always smiled that such a dainty flower chooses to live in such an...
Anyone familiar with cloud, or temperature, inversions knows how hypnotic they can be. Warm air traps cooler air, the pressure and temperature difference bringing intangible elements of the landscape to life. A layer of misty fog seems to crawl across the lush,...
The Black Balsam area off the Blue Ridge Parkway is one that I'm pretty familiar with, but that I've also never much connected with. Not sure why. The Art Loeb Trail, shown here, traverses the crest of open, grassy balds. The views are gorgeous. The popularity of...
"A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because its trust is not on the branch but on its own wings." --Charlie Wardle Despite failing more than succeeding at the business of photography, I've never questioned the "rightness" of the pursuit....
While my photography client and I were working a roadside meadow together along the southern Blue Ridge Parkway in Western North Carolina, she called me over to see some beautiful water droplets that were hanging from the stigma of each greenish/yellow flower on an...
My favorite photo clients are those who can appreciate--and even enthusiastically embrace--the small. I know, I probably shouldn't say that. Sorry, not sorry :-). The Southern Appalachian Mountains are absolutely full of beautiful small botanical treasures, each...
I'm always nervous before leading a paid photography adventure. While I have no control over the weather--and the weather will largely shape the experience of outdoor photography--I still want to deliver the type of day that will inspire my clients to keep...
I love to witness sunrise from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Instead of posting up at a popular overlook, however, I've taken to the challenge of finding atypical views between the overlooks. This was between East Fork Overlook and Black Balsam in Western North Carolina....
If you've ever driven the southern Blue Ridge Parkway through Western North Carolina, there's one iconic rock that you'll likely remember: Looking Glass Rock. Standing nearly four thousand feet in elevation with a slick, bare surface of whiteside granite, Looking...
Rare plants occur in rare places. To know one is to know the other; each points the seeker towards the other. British writer Peter Marren writes, "rarity lends a plant distinction. ...The plant is not only precious, but part of the meaning of place, its genius...
The Middle Fork of Little River within Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) is a target rich environment for photographers. This area is known locally as "Tremont" after either the historic logging town and/or the current Tremont Institute. A dirt road...
While wading Roaring Fork, I rounded a bend a came across this beautiful scenic of sunlight beaming through thick forest and onto lush, mossy boulders within the river. The temperature variant between the water and the air was such that low-lying fog was hanging just...
I've always shied away from Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Too busy. Too commercial. Too many visitors. And, perhaps most importantly, I felt I could find similar landscapes outside of the park that were quietier, less visited, without the hustle of...