PUBLICATION:  Our State Magazine
ARTICLE:  Island Time
PHOTO USE:  One-page and 1/4 page spreads, pages #54-55

It’s always fulfilling to get an opportunity to place images in Our State Magazine.  So many of the places and memories of my own life have occured within North Carolina.  To somehow, indirectly, have a hand in shaping the perception of the natural treasures within the state is really neat for me.  In June 2019 I had the opportunity to place two photographs within the feature story of Our State Magazine’s annual coastal issue:  one image, a tiny square crop of seashells being washed by high tide along Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and a second image, a wave of emerald green water crashing along the beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  The two images were essentially filler material for the story–visual empty calories.  However, they both were pretty cool choices for personal reasons. 

The first image of The Atlantic Ocean washing over a thick pile of shell hash along Cape Hatteras National Seashore… I never thought an image like this would be picked up for publication.  It is somewhat predicatable when an icon or well-known location is picked up and spread wide.  It’s less often that an anchorless shot–a shot meant to capture not a direct representation of a place but the feeling, the emotion, the experience of a place–gets placed into publication.  This shot, for me, was an attempt to communicate the visual equivalent of one of my favorite OBX memories:  the sound that a thick pile of shells makes as they clink together against each other as the tide pushes and pulls their mass along the nearshore of the beach.  It usually only happens around high tide.  It’s a magical sound for me, similar to the wind through a soft chime.

The second shot, though a classic stock image, was taken while I walked with my father and his German Shepherd along the beach in Hatteras North Carolina (surprisingly close to where the shell hash photo was also taken!).  When I see it, I remember how calm, beautiful and carefree the moment was.  For that reason, I love each time this image gets licensed for use.

My gratitude, as always, to the good folks at Our State Magazine for the opportunity.  Do know that I appreciate the platform that you provide and for choosing my photography to represent the beautiful state of North Carolina.