Mark VanDyke Blogs

I had the opportunity to contribute three photographs to Our State Magazine for their 2015 issue, Amazing Place. Check out the link to see my blog post, which includes the photos and the stories that they ran with! 

It was a pleasant surprise to be contacted by the National Park Service (NPS) about the use of one of my Bodie Island Lighthouse images for the cover of their FY 2013 annual report. As a government agency, this was a non-commissioned project; howeve... 

My largest opportunity yet in publishing came during the month of August when Smoky Mountain Living Magazine afforded the opportunity to feature one of my images on the cover of the magazine (my first cover), as well as to include a personal intervie... 

For the month of July my photograph was featured as the Motivation Assignment winner, a periodic contest that occurs on Outdoor Photographer Magazine's website. The photograph was taken in the Roan Highlands of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, ac... 

I was really excited when Backpacker Magazine contacted me about the use of one of my images from the Roan Highlands. The image, captured from Bear Gap on Grassy Ridge, was the result of hiking the Appalachian Trail over a series of beautiful Appala... 

Every month Our State Magazine chooses something symbolic related to the arts, food, music, people, or places from the state of North Carolina and features it in the front material of the issue. During the month of June, Our State Magazine chose to ... 

March 2014 Our State Magazine provided me a second opportunity to contribute an image to their magazine, with a feature two-page spread of the Bodie Island Lighthouse to represent the completion of renovations on this historic structure. Following o... 

After what was literally years of dancing around photo requests and potential uses, I finally managed to land an opportunity with WNC Magazine in the first month of 2014. An image I took the previous year of the Chattooga River Section Zero headwate... 

In December 2013, Our State Magazine ran a story titled, "A Prayer for North Carolina," where an assembly of thought leaders shared their hopes and desires for the future of the state through a storytelling narrative format. The article spanned fort... 

BOOK REVIEW: Inner Game of Outdoor Photography by Galen Rowell. I just realized that I never got around to posting this review! For those FB contacts who enjoy reading, this book is easily the most exciting piece of writing I’ve ever picked up about ... 

A couple weeks back during our cold spell here in the Southern Appalachians, I wondered up to the Highlands like many to witness Dry Falls frozen over and to play a bit in the Cullasaja Gorge. The skies were insignificant in terms of cloud cover and ... 

The economics of this thing--landscape photography--are nothing short of ridiculous when viewed by an outsider. You make an investment, an optimistic way of viewing things--or more accurately a calculated gamble--by traveling to a location in the hop... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) DECEMBER: Travel safe. Instead of a long story this month, I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been involved with my photography this past year. Travel safely this holiday season and as photographer David duChemin s... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) NOVEMBER: Back to my roots. I spent much of the month of November visiting family back in Northern Virginia. And when I’m back in the area I always make time to get over to Great Falls along the Potomac River. About fifteen mile... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) OCTOBER: Settle in to the dream. My hectic October ended with a week along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore in coastal North Carolina. A place that my family has vacationed since the day I was born, I have a ton of history an... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) OCTOBER: Capture it all. October was a blur! Much of the month was spent in the car between locations. From Pennsylvania to Georgia I drove back and forth chasing conditions and hoping to fill up the coffers with as many great p... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) SEPTEMBER: New Horizons. September was the first month that I was technically a full-time photographer; it was an awkward yet fulfilling month. I didn’t know what to do, how much to spend, where I should be concentrating my time... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) AUGUST: Decision time. August was a bit stressful for me. It was time to return to Clemson University and continue my graduate program and/or to notify my dissertation advisor and department head that I was planning to go in a d... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) JULY: High Above History. Thomas Jefferson, standing on a rock on the opposite shore of this photograph, today known as “Jefferson Rock,” said: “The passage of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge is perhaps one of the most stupen... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) JUNE: Blue Serenity. My folks rented a vacation home in Blowing Rock, Western North Carolina in mid-June of 2013. This meant that I had a week to share the sights of Southern Appalachia with my mother, an avid photographer herse... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) JUNE: Into the Mountains. June is the month when the Western North Carolina mountains really come alive—Catawba Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel, numerous ground flowers, full and lush foliage adorn the diversity of trees. Typicall... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) MAY: Out of the Mountains. I had the chance to tag along with friend and photographer, Dave Allen, to the Florida Palm Coast late in the month of May. Our target for the trip was Washington Oaks State Park, a small stretch of ... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) MAY: To Infinity. Late April and early May are busy times in the academic world. As a student I was blasted with year-end research papers and presentations, as well as creating, administering and grading final exams and final gr... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) APRIL – Regional Character in a Road. April started with a jaunt back to Charleston for me. The Azalea bloom and the rounding out of the landscape didn’t quite peak in March during my trip, so I returned to Clemson for a week, t... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) MARCH: Calm at the Boneyard. During the same aforementioned trip to Charleston this past spring, I had a great opportunity to photograph the Botany Bay Boneyard in new (to me) conditions: calm. Every time I’ve been to the Boneya... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) MARCH – Colorful Skies at Folly Beach Pier. March is all about Charleston, South Carolina for me. Photographer and friend, Dave Allen and his wife Jennifer, were kind enough to let me tag along on a trip to the lowcountry a numb... 

YEAR IN REVIEW (2013) FEBRUARY: Chattooga River Headwaters Section Zero Iron Bridge Winter Scenic. Following a failed sunrise atop Whiteside Mountain last February I dropped down the mountain, hooked NC-107 back towards South Carolina and grabbed Bul... 

Seeing white! I didn't snap a single photograph in the month of January 2013! January was the month that I began my second semester as part of the Planning Design and Built Environment (PDBE) doctoral program at Clemson University and I was a bit ov... 

Author and Photographer, Dane Sanders, writes in his book, Fast Track Photographer, that "The real value in any photography business is located in the person behind the camera" (p.19). Further, Sanders believes that many photographers make the critic... 

Content is entirely different than quality. A common question from folks is: "What one thing should I buy to improve my photography?" I've seen this very question on two different posts this morning on my timeline. Without meaning any disrespect to t... 

Sean Arbabi presents a clear to-the-point book about nature and outdoor photography. Covering a wide gamut from preparation and packing to post-processing, Arbabi doesn’t let the waters run too deep with this one. Instead, you get a broad brush appro... 

BOOK REVIEW: Visionmongers: Making a Life and A Living in Photography by David duChemin (2010). First, on a personal level, I love to read. Always have. Some of my fondest memories are book store marathons with my father and sister growing up. I s... 

BOOK REVIEW: The Print and the Process: Taking Compelling Photographs from Vision to Expression by David duChemin (2013). Continuing duChemin's market focus on the photographer and not the photography gear and all of its technical wonders, The Pri...