2022: Year in Review

First 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 sometimes rare) wildflowers, as well as became increasingly comfortable with habitat and ecosystem recognition.  With regards to the business, I found continued interest with long-time organizational partners, as well as continued opportunities with media publications.  I scored in the top one percent with an image in the Natural Landscape Photographers Awards (NLPA) competition–a surprise for sure.

On the flip side, I’m still unsatisfied with my photography.  It’s a discomfort that remains difficult to articulate.  My interpretation of the landscape has always been very literal.  I still believe in that sort of honesty and authenticity of subject.  However, I recognize that becoming more artful–more abstract even–with my eye and my presentation is the gap that will likely push me forwards.  With regards to processing, I still feel ham fisted and clunky.  I want the raw composition and bare elements to speak impact without added decoration.  And, in terms of the business, I need to offer more–more products and more of my time–if I expect to ever succeed in this thing.  

That’s where I’m at.  It was a good year.  The highlights can be found below.   

(Above):  Reflections of the Whalehead Club at Corolla Historic Park, NC.

(Left):  Seaglass stack on Moon Snail.  (Right):  Quahog Clam shell fragments.

The first blooms after a long winter are always the sweetest!  For us in Northern Virginia, that often means Virginia Bluebells.  There’s nothing better than mud on the boots and dirt on the knees in early spring; walking the Potomac Heritage Trail (PHT) every day to witness new growth.  The floodplains of the Potomac River are rich in diversity and betray their proximity to Washington D.C. and population pressures.

(Above):  Flowering Squirrel Corn wildflowers along the Potomac Heritage Trail (PHT), VA.

(Above):  Flowering Virginia Bluebells along the Potomac Heritage Trail (PHT), VA

I moved to Upstate South Carolina for college twenty-plus years ago.  I learned the classic tales of the Oconee Bell–a rare and well hidden wildflower.  Since then, I’ve always wanted to visually tell their story.  Try as I may, I always bungled my opportunities.  Finally, this year, I had the gear setup necessary and just enough knowledge to make it happen.  I spent three days non-stop–sun up to sun down–with my lens on the tiny Oconee Bells.  It was tremendously fulfilling.

(Above):  Flowering Oconee Bell wildflowers within the Jocassee Gorges, SC

The Escarpment, or Blue Wall, is where I learned to use a camera.  This is my favorite landscape of the Southern Appalachians:  it’s the least crowded and most wild (in my opinion), while also containing the trademark diversity and richness that the Southern Apps are known for.  A few photo adventure clients spent time with me exploring the steep geography of the Blue Wall this year.  I continued my visual studies of the Chattooga River–one of two Wild & Scenic Rivers in the Southeast–as well as some targeted wildflowers like the Fringed Polygala.  By the time April was over, I was physically spent.  That’s how I like it.

(Above):  Southern Appalachian Mountain waterfall, SC

(Left):  Wild & Scenic Chattooga River.  (Center):  Fringed Polygala.  (Right):  Mossy waterfall, SC

(Above):  Longcreek Falls cascades almost directly into the Wild & Scenic Chattooga River

(Left):  Crested Dwarf Irises Chattooga River Trail.  (Right):  Galax buds Chattooga River Trail.

Detail, detail, detail!  June was about the details.   I embraced macro photography in June.  From mushrooms to milkweed to wildflowers, I clicked thousands of images celebrating the diverse and colorful plant life of the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  A day spent with friends and phtographers, @beancountess1 and @tommytwhite at Bluff Mountain in Western North Carolina was the icing on the cake that was June.

(Left):  Orange Mycena mushrooms.  (Right):  Butterfly Weed Blue Ridge Parkway.

(Left):  Pinnacle sunrise Blue Ridge Parkway.  (Center):  Crab Spider.  (Right):  Eastern Turkeybeard wildflower.

(Left):  Allegheny Stonecrop.  (Right):  Flowering milkweed Blue Ridge Parkway.

(Above):  Inverted clouds float through the valleys as seen from Mount Mitchell, NC.

The Roan Highlands are one of those places that made me as a photographer.  This year I wanted to fly underneath the radar though.  Instead of the same grand views, I sought variety behind the lens.  I wanted to know where the rare wildflowers grew:  Greenland Sandwort, Purple Fringed Orchids, Gray’s Lilies, Spreading Avens, Roan Mountain Bluets.  I found and photographed them all.  I wanted to see the details: the fog within the cloudland forest; the dew on the spiderwebs, the blueberries flowering within the grasses.  I feel closer to this landscape now.   

(Above):  The pink hues of first light trapped underneath heavy cloud cover as seen from the Roan Highlands.

(Left):  Grays Lily.  (Center):  Spiderweb dew.  (Right):  Stinkbug on blackberry.

(Left):  Spreading Aven wildflower.  Federally Listed.  (Right): Roan Mountain Bluets.  Federally Listed.

I’ve been ruthlessly focused on my small operating area for the past few years.  A quick three day trip up to Pennsylvania in October broke me out of that.  It was too early for color within the Glens.  However, Lake Jean was putting on a show and the winds were standing at attention.  The camping was brutally cold for a few nights but the experience was beautiful.

(Above):  Autumn colors reflect into Lake Jean, Ricketts Glen State Park, PA.

(Left):  Water Lilies Lake Jean, PA.  (Right): Punctate Maple Tar Spot, PA.

Autumn came early to Western North Carolina.  Pre-booked travel plans with my mother didn’t allow for any flexibility.  So, I was late to the show.  The positive was being forced to look at the landscape differently; to use late season colors more effectively and to utilize lenses and gear I typically don’t use for autumn shooting.  Second autumn–as some call it–netted some neat opportunities in the Brevard, NC area.  We met @yellowwood_school— a highly intelligent woman who uses poetry and imagery to connect with place–along the Southern Blue Ridge Parkway during a particulary tasty morning of cloud inversions.

(Above):  Transitional autumn colors along Bass Lake near Blowing Rock, NC.

(Left):  First light at Price Lake, NC.  (Right):  Cloud inversion over late autumn foliage, BRP, NC.

(Left):  Fog closes in on an autumn hillside, BRP, NC.  (Right):  Predawn fog mingles with blue hour autumn valley trees.

Being near South Carolina during late autumn was too enticing not to drop down along the Blue Wall for some exploration.  I found and photographed a couple firsts for me:  Large Leaf Grass of Parnassus and Sweet Mountain Pitchers.  A few beautifully calm mornings spent within Table Rock State Park rounded out my autumn adventures in the Carolinas.

(Above):  The flower and leaf of Large Leaf Grass of Parnassus.

(Left):  Autumn Oak leaves, SC.  (Right):  Table Rock reflected into Pinnacle Lake, SC.

Two separate trips to Cape Hatteras National Seashore bookended my year.  The first found me holding on as winds from a tropical storm tried to blow me and my tent off the island.  The second, a camping trip with my sister, once again found me bracing against cold northeast winds.  This time, however, I found some spectacular sand patterns near our camp and made some of my favorite images of the year.

(Above):  Heavy mineral patterned sand, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NC.

To everyone who views and interacts with my photography, my sincerest thanks and appreciation.  You make this life a possibility.  And to everyone who encourages and enables me to keep going, thank you.  Happy Holidays and many well wishes for the coming New Year.  Be kind.  Hike more.   Live life abundantly.