Duke University Alumni Magazine

A Natural Obsession
Photography by Middleton Evans
All photographs are copyrighted by Middleton Evans. All rights reserved.

rom lush scenes of pristine woods to the bright spectacle of beach crowds, the photographs of Middleton Evans '86 capture an exceptional range of images. The Maryland native has published three elegant coffee-table books devoted to his home state, including Maryland In Focus, Baltimore, and the most recent, Maryland's Great Outdoors. Published by the family-run Middleton Press, Inc. in Baltimore, the books have earned him a reputation as a remarkable-- and remarkably patient--artist.

Sizable differences: The American lotus, top photo, with its eight-inch blossoms and Frisbee-sized leaves, dwarfs a patch of tiny bluets, no larger than a maple leaf, at left

Sun and shade: Resting in the morning dew, the green darner dragonfly, below, has a wingspan of nearly four inches; the yellow-fringed orchid, top right, is one of forty-two orchids native to Maryland; the old-growth forest floor is ideal for fungi such as this salmon entoloma mushroom, top left

To capture the crisp, colorful portraits of animals and insects, Evans spent weeks waiting for such elusive subjects as yellow-crowned night herons, or searching tirelessly for the rare fringed gentian wildflower. He has trained his lens on kayakers and fisherman, water skiers and school children. For every frame he selects for publication, there are dozens more that don't make the cut. The 280 photographs in Maryland's Great Outdoors were culled from 30,000 images taken over a three-year period.

At Duke, Evans was an economics major and photo editor of The Chanticleer. When post-graduate plans for a banking or accounting career failed to fly, Evans turned to his true love, photography. Not surprisingly, his devotion to the natural beauty of Maryland has turned him into a conservationist dedicated to documenting and preserving the flowers, birds, butterflies, plants, reptiles, and mammals that inhabit the state's more than 10,000 square miles.

Exotica: A round-leaved sundew, an insectivore, has ensnared a dragonfly in its sticky droplets, Virginia bluebells, left, grace the banks of the Potomac

Above: The black-and-yellow argiope spider sets its gossamer trap