About

Mark Turner

Photographer Mark Turner is based in Bellingham, Washington. He has a passion for wildflowers, other native plants, and gardens. In his plant photography he strives to combine the visual arts with a clear understanding of the biology of his subject matter. Mark studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology and is a self-taught botanist. In a perfect world he would spend most of his time during each growing season in the field looking for and photographing plants and their habitats.

He is an accomplished public speaker and photography workshop leader who has given programs for numerous garden clubs, native plant societies, and the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. He has led photography workshops for North Cascades Institute, Siskiyou Field Institute, and the Washington Native Plant Society. Call or e-mail to discuss a program or workshop for your organization. Click Lectures & Classes for information about available programs.

Mark is a native of West Virginia, where he began learning about wildflowers and photography as a boy. He still has his pressed flower collection from a 4-H project when he was in elementary school and his first camera from age 7. He lived in Rochester, New York; Ravenna, Ohio; and Lincoln, Nebraska before moving to the Pacific Northwest.

He is the past chair of the Koma Kulshan chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society, a member of the WNPS state board of directors, and a member of the Native Plant Society of Oregon. He also enjoys backpacking, road bicycling, and gardening. He's been a Boy Scout leader and an instructor for The Mountaineers basic climbing course. Mark is a member of Professional Photographers of Washington; Professional Photographers of America; and Garden Communicators International.

Mark also has an extensive library of garden photography and photographs families and individuals in his Bellingham studio and on location. Visit Turner Photographics for more information.

He and his husband, Brian, live on 5 acres at the edge of Bellingham where they grow much of the produce they eat, enjoy their second-growth woodland, and are continually adding more native species to their garden.

This Site

Turner Photographics Wildflowers is a comprehensive collection of photographs of plants found in the wild, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Each photograph is identified by both Latin and common name. Almost all of the photos are available for editorial or commercial publication or as prints. Please click the Licensing or Prints link on the menu for details.

There are 0 photographs on this site, organized in two groups:

• Plants: over 1220 species included in the field guide, Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. You can browse the plants in many ways using the choices under Browse Plants on the menu. For each of these plants you'll find all of the information about it that was included in the book. In addition, there are links to additional photos of each plant.
• Photos: this section is organized by month and photo session and includes the great majority of the photos on the site. You can browse by month and session, or search for any plant using the Quick Search that appears on every page or from the Advanced Search page.

Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest

This site is a complement to the award-winning (American Horticulture Society Book Award 2007) field guide, Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest. The book includes more than 1220 species of flowering plants found in southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Organized by color and flower shape, the book is designed to be easy for any flower enthusiast to use in the field. Each entry includes a photo, description, and range map along with details about bloom time, habitat, and rarity. Published in 2006 by Timber Press, the book has gone through multiple printings, with over 51,600 copies sold, and continues to receive accolades from users.

Phyllis Gustafson and Mark Turner collaborated on the book, with Phyllis researching and writing all of the plant descriptions and Mark searching out and photographing the flowers.

Click Buy the Book to order your copy, or visit your local independent bookstore and ask them to get it for you if they don't already carry it.