A professional photographer since 1980, Tom Balgden, Jr., concentrates his work in South Carolina, where he has lived since 1977, Maine and Costa Rica, where he has a home on the Pacific coast. Biologist Thomas E. Lovejoy, assistant secretary for external affairs of the Smithsonian Institution, wrote in regards to Blagden, “As a naturalist I know that it is impossible for art to improve upon nature—that it has a beauty so fundamental it defies ornamentation. It is, however, possible to see nature with special eyes. Among contemporary nature photographers, Tom Blagden clearly has that capacity.”