Could you explain why you choose not to use a tripod and how you manage to capture handheld focus stacks? Any tips or tricks?
Tim, tripods are necessarary for captures of, let’s say, Aurora or night skies. For evrything else it’s all just experience. I use a Canon that shoots rapid-fire focus stacks and even if handheld, there is no movement that causes misalignment between frames. I also deeply understand blending and stacking manually as well, for things such as water. I also have the ability to become still as a statue. I recommend others use a tripod more than I do because it’s an insurance policy against all that could possibly go wrong. But when I break my focus and sense of being in the moment to fiddle with that thing I find it quite interruptive, personally.
Hi Greg! I think to succeed these days you’ve gotta enjoy working with others, not just go it alone in the wilderness. With what I do there is a lot of networking with other guides, pilots, owner/operators of all kinds, etc. There is also finding good assistants and understanding business strategy, logistics, etc. I operate a tour company that specializes in getting people to some of the most remote places on Earth, places that inspire me to make images. So you have to enjoy that entire process, not just the shooting!
ditto…aloha stan & marc!
Hi Marc,
Nice to see you here again on NPN. I have always been fascinated by your photography as it is so fantastical in style. Most photographers will rarely find themselves in the environments that you are in and come back with some incredible stuff. Some of the scenes I remember from the days of NPN 1.0 were incredible, and some of it was on Velvia. We here at NPN know you, but recently in our new digital age (especially today), have you ever been accused of generating your work with “AI”, and how do you respond to such a question? I ask only because when I display my work at street markets I have been asked that very question, even though most of my work is on film made with a 4x5 LF camera. Thanks.
It’s not much different than 20 years ago when I was accused of generating it in Photoshop. I think having a connection with your audience and stories/images from behind the scenes is priceless. But also you have gotta accept that there will always be people from outside of the art that have no idea what is going on, and it will always be that way. You can’t educate everyone, but it would be nice if they understood that nobody is going to the ends of the Earth and coming back only to tell AI to generate it’s own pictures of the location they visited. It’s the same reason we don’t go to a zoo for our wildlife pictures. The experience is essential and it is the essence of photography.
Marc, not to take up any of your time but I had to post a hello message here. It’s been eons since you and I saw this scene in the Alabama Hills… 
Hi Marc, I participated in one of your Oregon courses in 2010. I still enjoy visiting and photographing the Oregon coast near Newport and Cape Kiwanda State Park, thanks to your amazing energy and love for coastal scenes! Every so often, I too, am able to convert a beautiful scene into a memorable photo. My question: Can you recommend a text that inspires your work?
20 years, haha. I think you had the Pentax at the time. Good to hear from you, Paul! Hope you still get out there to shoot!
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Marc, it was a Mamiya RB67 Pro SD. Still use it and my Wista DXIII 4x5 almost weekly to date. Don’t move around near as much anymore at my ripe old age. But usually get out to Joshua Tree NP weekly.
Really very nice to see how well you’ve done over the years in world of photography.
Back in the day I think you lived up in the Steve Prefontaine area around Corvallis? Your parents worked at the University there maybe?
…anyway, still out and about and still using film… 
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