Laurence Parent was born in New Mexico and raised in several southwestern states, primarily New Mexico. After receiving a petroleum engineering degree at the University of Texas at Austin in 1981, he practiced engineering for six years before becoming a full-time freelance photographer and writer specializing in landscape, travel, and nature subjects. His love of the outdoors was inspired by his parents, Hiram and Annette Parent, who took him on numerous hiking and camping trips when he was young. Because his father was a National Park Service ranger, he grew up in some of America’s most beautiful places. Among other tasks, Laurence’s father did photo work for the National Park Service and occasional freelance jobs on the side. His mother periodically wrote magazine articles, often on travel subjects. Although Laurence had no conscious desire to photograph and write until he was already a practicing engineer, as he grew older he was drawn to the photographic profession by his love of the outdoors and a desire to work for himself.
Laurence travels all over the United States and to other countries in pursuit of exceptional images and video. He has gathered stock from 52 states and provinces and many other countries. He typically spends up to four months of the year on the road. Through patience and planning, he tries to capture his photographic subjects at the perfect moment of light and weather. He hopes that the photographs produced by his efforts will inspire people to protect our world’s beautiful natural and historical heritage.
To get the best possible image quality, Laurence uses high resolution digital cameras by Sony and drones by DJI. In the past he used large-format 4×5 film cameras. He sometimes collaborates with his wife, Patricia Caperton Parent, on book and magazine projects. Laurence and Patricia currently make their home in Prescott, Arizona after living in the Texas Hill Country for many years.
Credits
Laurence’s photos are very popular with calendar publishers, so he does a number of sole-photographer calendars every year for several publishers. His photography is used every year in multi-photographer calendars produced by Sierra Club, BrownTrout, Shearson, MeadWestvaco, Avalanche, and many other American and international publishers. Laurence’s photos and articles appear frequently in many different magazines. A few selected credits include National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Outside, Backpacker, Sierra, Natural History, National Parks, Newsweek, Travel & Leisure, and the New York Times. He contributes regularly to regional publications such as Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, New Mexico Magazine, Arizona Highways, and Texas Parks & Wildlife. His corporate clients have included Southwest Airlines, Cox Communications, Costco, Temple-Inland, and Anadarko Petroleum. His prints hang on the walls of organizations from Compass Bank, Motorola, and Columbia Healthcare to the University of Texas. His other projects range from posters, postcards and brochures to museum exhibits and speaking engagements.
In the past 25 years, Laurence has published about 45 books. His latest three are major revisions of his bestselling Hiking Texas, Hiking New Mexico, and his Texas state parks book, published in 2018 and 2019. His July 2010 release, Death in Big Bend, is a full-length non-fiction book that chronicles 17 true stories of death and rescue in the national park. In 2006, his large-format book Big Bend National Park was published by University of Texas Press. Earlier that year Timeless Texas, a large hardcover book of black and white Texas landscapes, was published by Texas A&M University Press. In 2005, Texas Coast, another hardcover color book, was published by University of Texas Press. New Mexico Impressions, a softcover color book, was published by FarCountry Press in 2004. Lighthouses: Sentinels of the American Coast was published by Graphic Arts Center Publishing in 2003. In 2002, Laurence had two large-format books published, Wildflowers across Texas by Graphic Arts Center Publishing and Nature of the Forest by Temple-Inland. In 2001, University of Texas Press published the hardcover book Texas Mountains. In 1997, his comprehensive full color book Official Guide to Texas State Parks was published. He photographed a large-format coffee-table-style book, Texas, for Graphic Arts Center Publishing in 1995.
Laurence has written and photographed seven books for Falcon Press–Hiking New Mexico, Hiking Texas, Scenic Driving New Mexico, Scenic Driving Texas, Scenic Driving Wyoming, Scenic Driving North Carolina, and Hiking Big Bend National Park–and three for Gulf Publishing– Austin, The Hill Country, and Santa Fe. He has written and/or photographed eight small books on National Park Service areas for Western National Parks Association: Capulin Volcano National Monument, Chiricahua National Monument, Chamizal National Memorial, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Big Thicket National Preserve, Chickasaw National Recreation Area, and Flavor of the Hill Country. Books done for other publishers include Big Bend of the Rio Grande and The Texas Hill Country: A Postcard Book. Several new book projects are in progress.
Additionally, Laurence’s photos appear in multi-photographer books and textbooks by many other publishers including Holt, Rinehart and Winston, John Wiley & Sons, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Henry Holt, Reader’s Digest, National Geographic, and the National Park Service.