I believe nature has an inherent place in each of our lives. When I observe the beauty of nature, my reaction is, "no man could have created that". My career began in the computer field. My early career was with one of the "Beltway Bandits" at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. I wrote operating systems software in support of the Atmospheric Explorer satellite series at Goddard. I later wrote operating systems for the development of a distributed operating system for a hardware manufacturer in Florida. Finally I joined IBM in support of their System Network Architecture and later moved to their Network Management area in Research Triangle Park, NC.
I retired in 2000, and felt quite empty. I decided to return to the career which I really loved, photography. I began my work in photography in 1966 as a photographer for my high school yearbook. I was blessed to have three of the best mentors one could possibly have in photography, my father, Jackie Caynon and Larry Bolch. Each played a significant role in my early photographic education. Sandy Middlebrooks is also a dear friend and professional photographer who has provided me countless hours of photographic discussion, for which I am very grateful. I continued my photography during my college matriculation, as a student photographer for the yearbook and newspaper staffs. Upon graduation, I entered the computer field for thirty years.
I came to realize the value of nature photography via an incidental circumstance. I was riding by a gallery in Apex, NC and saw a sign for a nature photography contest. I stopped to inquire, but the deadline for the contest had passed. However, it was here that I discovered the Nature Photography Weekend at Grandfather Mountain (Blue Ridge Mountains, Linville, NC). I returned home with a pamphlet on the workshop. About a week later my wife, Toni, informed me she had enrolled us in the Grandfather Mountain event. This is where my life changed.
I have been able to take my photography to a new level as a result of the workshop and the people I have met there. I would like to thank all who have been involved in the improvement, development and nurturing of my photography. I give special thanks to the presenters at the Nature Photography Weekend, Don Nelson and all the Staff of Grandfather Mountain. I try my best to bring each person viewing my work to the location as I visualized the images, at the moment the photograph was taken. This will vary form site to site, but what you see will always be what I felt.
I would also like to thank God for loaning us this beautiful ecosystem with all of the associated natural wonders.
I retired in 2000, and felt quite empty. I decided to return to the career which I really loved, photography. I began my work in photography in 1966 as a photographer for my high school yearbook. I was blessed to have three of the best mentors one could possibly have in photography, my father, Jackie Caynon and Larry Bolch. Each played a significant role in my early photographic education. Sandy Middlebrooks is also a dear friend and professional photographer who has provided me countless hours of photographic discussion, for which I am very grateful. I continued my photography during my college matriculation, as a student photographer for the yearbook and newspaper staffs. Upon graduation, I entered the computer field for thirty years.
I came to realize the value of nature photography via an incidental circumstance. I was riding by a gallery in Apex, NC and saw a sign for a nature photography contest. I stopped to inquire, but the deadline for the contest had passed. However, it was here that I discovered the Nature Photography Weekend at Grandfather Mountain (Blue Ridge Mountains, Linville, NC). I returned home with a pamphlet on the workshop. About a week later my wife, Toni, informed me she had enrolled us in the Grandfather Mountain event. This is where my life changed.
I have been able to take my photography to a new level as a result of the workshop and the people I have met there. I would like to thank all who have been involved in the improvement, development and nurturing of my photography. I give special thanks to the presenters at the Nature Photography Weekend, Don Nelson and all the Staff of Grandfather Mountain. I try my best to bring each person viewing my work to the location as I visualized the images, at the moment the photograph was taken. This will vary form site to site, but what you see will always be what I felt.
I would also like to thank God for loaning us this beautiful ecosystem with all of the associated natural wonders.
© Nature Images by Charles Tisdale