Photo Essays

A Week in Chincoteague- August 25, 2026

I’ve been to Chincoteague, Virginia, numerous times throughout the last 20 years. Each visit has carried many of the same things I’ve always loved about the area; looking for wildlife, watching the sun settle over the marsh, seeing the ponies in their native habitat, and standing along the shoreline watching the surf roll in at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

But this trip was different.

For the first time, I experienced Chincoteague with a camera in my hand.

It gave me a reason to pay closer attention to the ponies moving through the marsh, the birds working the shoreline, dolphins breaking the surface offshore, and pelicans riding low over the waves. I found myself especially grateful for the opportunity to encounter such a different variety of wildlife than I typically see back home in the Pennsylvania Wilds, and to experience the grandeur of our Creator revealed through an entirely different habitat.

These photographs are a collection of some of those moments; small glimpses of a place I have known for years, seen this time through a different lens.

If you ever get the opportunity to visit a place like this, take it. But go with intentionality. Slow down. Pay attention. Watch the light change, listen to the water, look for the movement in the marsh, and give yourself enough time to notice what you might otherwise pass by. There is something deeply rewarding about stepping into a different corner of creation and taking the time to witness what is there.