bio

:bio:

“After my family and friends, the things I love the most in this world include art, nature, fog, adventure, travel, personal style, cats, tidiness, simplicity, peace, and kindness. That’s the really important stuff. If you need to know more, read on ;)”

Michele Sons is a full-time fine art landscape and nature photographer, writer, and educator originally from England and currently based in southwest Virginia in the United States. Her background in geography and environmental science, her taste for adventure, and her highly diverse and extensive travel experience uniquely position her to connect with both the Appalachian landscape she calls home as well as landscapes across the world. Michele’s work is based on a soft, subtle, pared-down aesthetic. Fog, mist, and soft light are intrinsic elements present in many of her images.

 Michele is a lover of fog, mist, and soft light…

Michele’s clients include National Geographic, The Wilderness Society, Great Smoky Mountains Association, Friends of the Smokies, Eastern National, and The Appalachian Trail Conservancy. Her work has been featured extensively in the National Geographic Beautiful Landscapes calendars, she has participated in group and solo museum and gallery exhibitions both domestically and internationally, and she has collaborated with non-profits on editorial work in support of America's national parks. Her work has been featured in numerous local and regional print publications as well as highly regarded websites. Michele recently served as 2022 New River Gorge Creative-in-Residence at our nation’s newest national park, and is a 2023 recipient of the Inspired Creator Grant. 

RIVERSONG: Creative, Holistic Approaches to Photographing New River Gorge is Michele’s first ebook, available for purchase on her website.

Her anticipated second instructional eBook THE ART OF FOG: A Primer for Expressive Landscape and Nature Photography in Fog will be released in the Fall of 2023.

Find out more…

 
I’m a proud member of Nature First: The Alliance for Responsible Nature Photography and I’m dedicated to following the Nature First Principles:

  • Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography.

  • Educate yourself about the places you photograph.

  • Reflect on the possible impact of your actions.

  • Use discretion if sharing locations.

  • Know and follow rules and regulations.

  • Always follow Leave No Trace principles and strive to leave places better than you found them.

  • Actively promote and educate others about these principles

visit my instagram feed…

:on this day last year: Early spring in Great Smoky Mountains National Park can have a surprising color palette... Red can dominate, believe it or not! I'm not sure if this is the case in other parts of the country, but I love the spring reds here
✨✨I’m excited to be presenting The Art of Fog at Nic Stover’s Speaker Series on Mood and Mystery! This is an adaptation from my popular eBook. Also presenting as part of this series: Michael Frye and Franka Gabler and I’m so honor
🌿🍃🌱Today is a writing day, and I’m working on a piece about spring photography in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, an epic location for landscape and nature photography in the spring. Here, a lovely quiet scene of Smoky Mountain dogwood
Today I’m working on my presentations for Out of Chicago LIVE! This oldie but goodie will be included in two of my sessions, so I thought I’d share. Desert Trio by Moonlight was made in White Sands National Park, and is part of my seri
📚✨EXCLUSIVE FREEBIE✨📚 🌍 ‘Cultivating Connection: Techniques for Connecting with the Places You Photograph’ will be my FREE gift to Out of Chicago LIVE conference attendees! 📸 Learn some of ways I connect with nature to make more mean