Chuck and Melissa Park, of All Azimuths Photography, Inc., are both landscape, adventure and travel photographers. Of all things, they enjoy most the gathering of images from hard to reach places – from mountain tops to scorching deserts – and far away lands. They tend to seek off-the-beaten-path destinations and unusual adventures, in part to demarcate themselves from the usual stock imagery, but also to help their common case of wanderlust.

Melissa Park: Though Melissa was born in the USA; she spent most of her childhood in New Caledonia, a small island in the South Pacific. She left the island at the age of 21, with not much more than a backpack, and has been moving and traveling constantly ever since. Her love of travel initially drew her to photography, as she wished to share little bits of her adventures with those back home. At first she drew from her graphic design experience (she was 18 when her pencil drawings were first exhibited in a local gallery), and a natural “eye” to compose her images. Then, she took an intro to Black and White Photography class at the local community college, and for the next three years spent an unbelievable amount of time fiddling in the darkroom. Her photos quickly began to sell and win her awards in small contests. Eventually she abandoned her English teaching career to concentrate on her photography full time. Over the years, her style has developed into one of clean designs and of involvement in the action. She usually carries her Nikon N80 and extra rolls of film in a chest bag - “as any alpine kangaroo would do” – and shoots while on the move. This allows her not only to create dynamic images with a “I was there” feel, but also to feed her passion for action sports and adventure travel.

Chuck Park: Chuck was born in Montana, but has seldom spent more than two years in any one location. He has lived in almost every state of the USA, Cairo in Egypt and Bern in Switzerland. Chuck has been pursuing his interest in photography for over 20 years, most of it with the same Canon AE1 and 50 mm lens. While a Marine assigned to embassies, he photographed Egypt, Switzerland and neighboring countries extensively. Later, while a software engineer at Microsoft, he developed a passion for mountaineering and began to regularly spend weekends in the beautiful North Cascades near his home in WA. Chuck describes himself as a “rock and wood photographer”, referring to his ability to extract the beauty in patterns and often overlooked elements in landscape scenes. His shooting style is a meticulous one; he usually studies an area at length before setting up his tripod, and composes each image as though it were the only one he might ever take. As a result, each of his images is unique and stunning. Chuck’s style allows him to be just as comfortable with a large format view camera as he is with his Nikon FM3 or Canon AE1, though he usually carries only the “little ones” when climbing or backpacking.

As a team, they complement each other perfectly (in life as in their photographic venture). With opposite shooting styles, yet common drive to produce images of the utmost professional quality, Chuck and Melissa give All Azimuths Photography, Inc. its unusual breadth of coverage for any location. And, their common love of adventure travel and photography provides them with an unlimited supply of enthusiasm for their craft, which keeps All Azimuths Inc.’s files constantly updated with fresh images.