Born and raised in Wisconsin’s Baraboo Hills, Derrick Mayoleth has spent a lifetime exploring and interpreting the landscapes he calls home. His creative path began in the late 1970s with his father’s Minolta film camera and has continued through decades of exploring, guiding, and working at local landmarks such as Wollersheim Winery, the International Crane Foundation, and Devil’s Lake State Park.
In 1996, Derrick founded Skillet Creek Media and later launched DevilsLakeWisconsin.com, a leading regional resource for visitors and locals alike. His nearly daily photography posts on social media, shared since 2009, are more than a habit; they are a personal ritual and artistic challenge that keep him connected to the landscape, no matter the weather.
Derrick’s photography is less about documenting a scene and more about evoking its spirit. Guided by mood rather than technical neutrality, he shapes color and light to create emotional resonance. Whether capturing a fleeting storm, the hush of snowfall, or the layered quiet of an ancient forest, his work invites viewers to feel a place as much as see it.
This instinct for atmosphere also runs through his work as a musician and composer, where he creates scores for indie theatrical productions. In both images and sound, Derrick’s focus is the same: to tell stories through tone, texture, and feeling.
From circumnavigating Puerto Rico by sea kayak to hiking the Alps, his experiences across wild landscapes have informed his eye, but it is the shifting seasons, storm fronts, and quiet corners of Sauk County that keep drawing him back. Here in the Baraboo Hills, he continues to chase those elusive, in-between moments that define his evocative, place-driven style.