Mac Stone (Spanish and International Studies ’06), a National Geographic Explorer, contributed an essay, “How to Take Impossible Photos in Nature,” to the “Hokie How-To” feature in Illumination.

The author of Everglades: America’s Wetland, Stone is also a senior fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers, a Sea Legacy fellow, and the executive director of Naturaland Trust, a nonprofit that permanently protects critical lands in the upstate of South Carolina.

In March 2015, Stone delivered his first TED talk, which has since been viewed more than 1 million times.

Mac Stone found this cypress tree in Central Florida irresistible, but it was growing in eight feet of black water teeming with alligators. So he devised a system for taking a self-portrait remotely — from inside the hammock.
Mac Stone found this cypress tree in Central Florida irresistible, but it was growing in eight feet of black water teeming with alligators. So he devised a system for taking a self-portrait remotely — from inside the hammock.
Two west Indian manatee take a moment to play in Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida.
Two west Indian manatee take a moment to play in Three Sisters Spring, Crystal River, Florida.
A male Everglades snail kite, an endangered species, swoops down on its sole source of food, the apple snail.
A male Everglades snail kite, an endangered species, swoops down on its sole source of food, the apple snail. The bird’s broad wings are specially equipped to soar long distances in search of these small gastropods, and they can stop on a dime when their quarry is found.
An alligator's snout peaks above water lit orange by the sun
A setting sun paints a stand of live oaks a fiery orange which dapples on the water of Alachua Sink in Paynes Prairie State Park in Gainesville, Florida. There alligators congregate by the dozens to take advantage of the large concentrations of fish.
A night sky in Wyoming
A night sky in Wyoming
A symbol of biodiversity and speciation, chameleons inhabit the dense forests and foothills of northern Mozambique.
A symbol of biodiversity and speciation, chameleons inhabit the dense forests and foothills of northern Mozambique.
The Middle Saluda River flows through Jones Gap State Park in northern Greenville County, South Carolina.
The Middle Saluda River flows through Jones Gap State Park in northern Greenville County, South Carolina.
Burrowing owls are diurnal birds that make their home in the ground.
Burrowing owls are diurnal birds that make their home in the ground. “Their cartoon-like appearance echoes their curious disposition,” Mac Stone notes.
Dawn illuminates an old-growth cypress tree on Cypress Lake in Lake County, Florida.
Dawn illuminates an old-growth cypress tree on Cypress Lake in Lake County, Florida.