I'll always remember the late Jim Fowler, local wildflower expert, when I photograph Sweet Pinesap. It was his writing and detailed blog posts about this rare plant that lead me to crawling around the forest seeking the beautiful smells of nutmeg, clove and cinnamon....
I became aware of Oconee Bell wildflowers when I moved to South Carolina to attend Clemson University. In 2022, after over nearly twenty years experimenting with photographing these beautiful wildflowers, I finally got myself and my gear in alignment, and I made what...
Jocassee Gorges - Spring 2023The Southern Appalachian Mountains are defined by their biodiversity. To know this place--to understand the physical landscape--is to know the plants. This is what I've come to believe. Chasing the early spring bloom as a photographer is...
Hiding Among Tall Grasses Gray's Lilies are globally rare wildflowers growing within critically imperiled habitat. I travel to the grassy balds of the Roan Highlands to visit the largest known population of these wonderful Southern Appalachian wildflowers. Late...
Trip Journal: June 12-15, 2022The Blue Ridge Parkway is America's longest linear park travelling 469 miles along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Overlook...
Trip Journal: June 9-11, 2022 The Blue Ridge Parkway is America's longest linear park travelling 469 miles along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Overlook...
Trip Journal: April 27 - May 4, 2022 The Blue Ridge Escarpment is a place of transition where the high mountains of Western North Carolina drop dramatically into the Piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia below. Steep elevational drops, high rates of precipitation,...
Trip Journal: April 20-26, 2022The Blue Ridge Escarpment is a place of transition where the high mountains of Western North Carolina drop dramatically into the Piedmont of South Carolina and Georgia below. Steep elevational drops, high rates of precipitation, and...
Seeking "Perhaps The Most Interesting Plant..." Oconee Bells are rare wildflowers growing within the Jocassee Gorges region of Upstate South Carolina. Early American botanist Asa Gray spent a lifetime searching for Oconee Bells in the wild, largely unsuccessful. I...
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...
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...
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 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...
In 2013 I lived in an apartment in Upstate South Carolina. Whenever the forecast showed snow for the mountains of Western North Carolina, Whiteside Mountain is where I would rush off to. It was a straight shot up the sinuous NC-107. Whiteside Mountain is the...
Becoming a full-time landscape photographer was a real thought at this point in my life (2014). It was risky for me. I had invested heavily--both time and finances--in my degrees and work experience within the construction industry. Cutting the cord was going to be...
The virus eventually shut down access to all local parks in Fairfax County. Shenandoah National Park was shuttered tight. Travel was strongly discouraged; campground gates locked. I only had one wildcard in my back pocket: a small Wildlife Management Area in...
One of the back burner projects I've always wanted to tackle was a photo essay of the spring ephemeral wildflowers along the Potomac Heritage Trail (PHT) in Northern Virginia. As the Corona Virus began to tighten its grip in March of 2020, I found myself in Northern...
In March 2016, while I was photographing the annual spring bloom in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, Our State Magazine--a North Carolina periodical--reached out to me and offered an opportunity to complete an assignment to be featured in the April 2017...
I lived in the Upstate of South Carolina for nearly ten years while I pursued various degrees at Clemson University. Neighboring Oconee County was where I went to find my "away." I've always loved books and learning. To this day, when an Amazon delivery arrives on...
Each year, a small gap in my travel schedule allows a return to my hometown of Northern Virginia to witness and photograph the Virginia Bluebells. Much of the early spring hype is focused on the nearby Japanese Cherry Trees in downtown Washington D.C., where visitors...
Each year, as spring rounds out towards mid-April I make a pilgrimage to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'm never alone; the who's who of outdoor photography will be in the same place. Friends, mentors and those who I've only followed...
The grasses I travel through are far taller than the mid-height of my hiking boots allowing the moisture to wick down through my socks. My feet are soaking despite the Gore-Tex lining within my boots. It's just after sunrise on the temperate grassy balds of the Roan...
Thompson Wildlife Management Area is an acreage of property (4,000+) owned and operated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries in Fauquier County, Virginia. Located about one hour west of the Northern Virginia suburbs outside...
Each spring around mid-April I rattle off several hundred frames that I never show anyone. Frames of Virginia Bluebells. There's really nothing in my landscape calendar each year that wrecks my confidence as a photographer more thoroughly than Virginia Bluebells,...