Authentic Texan
By J. Carol Richards
Like the human eye, the camera records images that elicit emotional responses to specific moments in time. Tony Maples’ passion is to record the most beautiful places on the planet and share those images with people who may never have had the privilege of viewing the turbulent majesty of the Oregon Coast or a sunset on the Rio Grande.
He is, at heart, a free-spirited adventurer who views his world through the eyes of an eternal optimist. “I see the bright side of every situation. If you can’t control the situation, it is a waste of energy to continue stressing .” His art reflects an inner peace and an ethereal quality that celebrates the delicate balance of a fairy garden with the haunting view of a cemetery bathed in the light of the Milky Way. In addition, Tony utilizes simple objects that often escape the seeing eye, like a West Texas pump jack or a Llano Estacado horse grazing at sunset, to remind us to look a little deeper at the beauty that surrounds us in the ordinary.
Tony is a self-professed adrenaline junkie who was once a semi-professional skateboarder. Through filming action videos of the skateboarders, he discovered that he had a talent for filming, and eventually, a providential trip to Sam’s Club landed him a professional Canon camera. Exploring the world of still photography combined with Tony’s often nomadic lifestyle led him to discover the splendor of some of the most remote places in America and the world. However, his love of the finer things in life took him into a successful career in marketing, website design, and running the largest luxury glamping site in the country in Big Bend, Texas.
In the fall of 2021, Tony gutted his Hummer, built his “H2roam,” a take on life in a van, and searched for new adventures. In 2022, he found himself at Big Bend National Park helping friends with a workshop that led to a three-month trip to places like Badwater Basin in Death Valley, the Alien Throne in New Mexico, and the Ancient Bristlecone Forest in Bishop, California. He spent nearly six months on the road, reveling in the freedom it brought as he began a deep dive into photography.
Tony shared that each of his finished images takes a full day and is carefully planned to capture the drama of the changing light. It is not unlike a time-lapse that can record the enchanting journey of the caterpillar through its emergence into a beautiful butterfly. Tony can take those series of moments and merge them into one magical reflection of what his mind envisioned. A true artist photographer takes every situation and finds something of beauty that can be shared. Once, when he was stuck in a dry lakebed for days in a rainstorm in his vehicle, he described it as “the most amazing landscape as the water became the perfect mirror of the sky.”
Tony Maples is still chasing the next adventure as he documents the enchanting moments along the way. He does not see himself tethered to any particular place and describes himself as “The coolest and most successful homeless person you will ever meet.”
