Layered van der Waals materials have attracted significant attention due to their unique optical and electronic properties, as well as their potential for lattice mismatch-free integration. In this talk, I will discuss utility of multilayer and bulk van der Waals materials for deeply subwavelength photonics across near- and mid-infrared bands. I will show that transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors, owing to their high refractive index and strong anisotropy, are ideally suited for confining near-infrared (>1 micron) light at the fraction of the wavelength. I will present our recent demonstration of photonic structures that can guide light efficiently in structures >15 times smaller than the free-space wavelength. I will further show that such strong confinement is of great potential for boosting light-materials interaction, including quantum and nonlinear. I will then discuss challenges and opportunities for integrated photonics and ability of vdW materials to rival silicon. In the second half of my talk, I will demonstrate our recent experiments with hBN metasurface infrared absorbers. I will demonstrate that such metasurfaces allow resonant and tunable light-trapping across a wide mid-wave infrared (6.5-8 micron) band in