2022: Year in ReviewFirst with the good. It was a tremendously productive year. I processed, catalogued, and keyworded over seven hundred new images. Nearly two per day on average. In the field, I connected more intimately with the landscape. I found new (and...
PUBLICATION: Our State Magazine ARTICLE: A Most Welcome New Year PHOTO USE: Two-page spread, pages #60-61I had the great opportunity to kick off the New Year with a two-page photo spread in Our State Magazine. "A Most Welcome New Year" written by Susan Stafford...
2020 was nuts! I don't need to repeat what all of us have already lived--it was different, to say the least. My bubble included others: we climbed all over each other; we participated (willing or unwilling) in each others teleconferences and online seminars; we...
As I write this in late December, my area of Northern Virginia is but a sprinkle of rain from being the wettest year on record (Update: we got the extra rain and we broke the record). 2018 was wet. The damp certainly had its effect on annual blooms and seasonal...
Every June I travel sure-footed along the Appalachian Trail, up and over the open, grassy meadows of the Roan Highlands seeking showy pink seasonal blooms of Catawba Rhododendron. My anticipation drives grand visions of large stands of heavy,...
Photography is a game of vision, and vision is unique to each photographer. How each of us views a place is some complex derivation of personal experiences, learned knowledge, and personal attributes—all of which cannot be duplicated, only...
I had the great opportunity to work with the folks over at Landscape Photography Magazine to showcase one of my favorite places to photograph, the Outer Banks of North Carolina. While much has changed along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since I was...
I'm honored to have had an opportunity to work on assignment--for the first time--with Our State Magazine towards fulfillment of the April 2017 photo essay regarding Azalea in North Carolina. My portion of the assignment was to capture images of the Pinkshell and...
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...
FROM THE FIELD October in Western North Carolina 2016 Mark VanDyke, Photographer 1 December 2016 It's always difficult to sum up an entire season in one post, especially when time has passed (is it really December?). That is, however, what I'm going to attempt here,...
Hermine. That was the monster that lingered on the forecast for Labor Day weekend. Being an outdoor photographer, of course I was heading towards the storm instead of away. Only this time it wasn’t necessarily by plan. My mother and I booked a weekend of...
Day seven. Our last full day at Glacier National Park. We wanted to get absolutely everything out of it, so, we were up by one in the morning and at the trailhead by two-thirty in the morning. I've always been very comfortable outside in the wee hours of...
The morning of day six opened with great promise. The night before we had all sat around the table at the rental home and discussed various plans in terms of where to go and what to see. Our destination was concrete. We were going to split into a couple smaller...
Day five opened with the drumming of rain against the outside of the rental home. Several half-awake and questioning faces emerged from various rooms into the main living space where I was sleeping on the sofa. An efficient but effective, “go back to sleep” from our...
Day four. Time to get back up on the horse. I logged some quality shut-eye on a surface that wasn’t rolling at seventy-miles an hour (pretty sure I didn’t move from the time I laid it down to the moment my alarm woke me!). I was excited to get myself back in the...
Day three began with a twist. Lots of them actually. As we pulled out of Yellowstone National Park following sunset the road became narrow and mountainous, ascending and descending what must have been some pretty dramatic terrain (we couldn’t see much on account of...
The heavy lifting of east-to-west travel behind us, day two departed South Dakota during the dark hours of evening. It was clear, however, that we were not the only group descending upon the roads: motor homes, pickup trucks and motorcycles were commonplace along...
I'm very pleased to have another opportunity with Our State Magazine this month, June 2016. This is my third month in a row of working with the magazine and I couldn't be more pleased with all of the stories and their collective geographic reach: April a photograph...
I'm honored to once again have had the opportunity to contribute to the May 2016 Coastal Issue of Our State Magazine. My photograph of the Bonner Bridge as it crosses Oregon Inlet--a critical link between the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean--was paired with the...
I'm honored to have another photograph in the April 2016 issue of Our State Magazine (pg.#152-153). To be completely upfront, sometimes photographs accompany stories that are far from the reality of my own life and circumstances as the photographer; I'm overjoyed,...
Morning. The best part of my day. In those early hours, anything is possible as the world awakens to a fresh start, a new chance to finish a lingering task, resolve a problem, reach out to an old friend, or to rest a tired body and mind. ...
Publication: Photography Masterclass Magazine Issue: November 2015 (Issue #35) I'm really pleased to find my photograph of the annual wild Catawba Rhododendron bloom atop a grassy meadow in the Roan Highlands of the Southern Appalachians as an Editor's Choice in...
Publication: Outdoor Photographer Issue: April 2015, Wildlife Special, Volume 31, Number 3 Story: Favorite Places, Grassy Ridge Bald (p.34) I had the opportunity to contribute an article and photograph for the monthly column, favorite places, appearing in the...
Publication: Our State: Down Home in North Carolina Issue: March 2015, Amazing Place, Volume 82, Number 10 Story: Photo Essay: Amazing Place (p.13), Jan DeBlieu's Hatteras Island by Jan DeBlieu (p.88-89), and Now, Voyager by Scott Huler (p.142-143) STORY ONE: Jan...