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...
Whiteside Mountain in Western North Carolina's Jackson County has the highest sheer cliffs in Eastern North America at nearly 800ft. The mountain itself stands at just under five-thousand feet in elevation and the sheer faces point generally southward. Anytime I am...
The Chattooga River was designated Wild & Scenic on May 10, 1974. Fifty years later in May 2024, I found myself behind the camera on the banks of this beautiful river. The Wild & Scenic Chattooga River has long been a favorite destination: I was introduced...
I moved to South Carolina for college in 2001. Soon enough, I was taken with the surrounding landscapes, particularly the waterfalls. This was long before the tourism board made any efforts to mark or sign these landscape features. Waterfalls were, for me,...
This is my favorite waterfall. This is where, when I lived in Upstate South Carolina, I went to sit and find silence; the type of silence that is loud on the exterior and quiet on the interior. Most waterfalls in the Southern Appalachians are not solitary features....
Much of the biodiversity in the Southern Appalachian Mountains occurs at a small scale: liverworts, mosses, ferns etc. Becoming comfortable with a macro rig has been hugely liberating for me and my photography. This is a liverwort, a non-vascular land plant that...
When I returned to Clemson University in 2008 for my master's degree, I was deep into a new passion for landscape photography. There are over three hundred recorded waterfalls in Oconee County, South Carolina. It was my over-zealous goal to visit and photograph them...
While photographing a rapid along the Wild & Scenic Chattoga River in Georgia, I began to notice the teeming life within the vernal pools along the banks of this section of river. Vernal pools are seasonal puddles, distinctinve types of wetlands that are devoid...
The intimate focal range--between wide and telephoto--is often the most challenging for me. And the most rewarding. I don't naturally see in this way: to remove the sky and leading line elements, but also to not punch in so close that the scene becomes abstract,...
I find beauty in shape and pattern. This is the beginning of a Maidenhair Fern. It's absolutely fascinating. And it's why I love macro photography.Camera: Canon EOS 5DrLens: Canon MP-E 65mmTripod: Handheld w/ flash Date taken: March 18, 2024Settings: f14,...
When I bought and built my macro rig, it was with a dream of finding subjects and making images like this one. The Southern Appalachian Mountains are rich with plant and fungi diversity; every hike an opportunity to find, notice, and pay attention to something new,...
In 2021, Pat McMillan and Larry Cushman discovered the only known population of a new species of Saxifrage, which they named Shealy's Saxifrage for Dr. Harry Shealy. Unlike other nearby saxifrages, Shealy's Saxifrage flowers late winter to early spring, has five...
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...