During winter 24' a strange 4-day stretch of weather left the Outer Banks shrouded in thick fog along the Atlantic Ocean. It stuck around all morning and into the early afternoon. I wish, in hindsight, that I had noted the unique set of weather conditions that...
While walking the beach one very cold and windy winter morning in January 24' I found this beautiful piece of black sea glass along Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It was wet, solid black. Not sure if it was a rock or glass, I held it up to the overcast sky and got...
I drove past this stack of crab pots day after day during the winter of 2024. My rental home was nearby and this area was a frequent way point for me to get eyes on the current environmental conditions. The visual pattern and colors of these stacked crab pots always...
It's general practice for me to be on location forty-five minutes to one-hour before sunrise. I can't know what's going to happen at first light. There's no app for that--and I wouldn't use it anyhow. Each morning I wake up and show up to read the conditions,...
Renting a home in the waterfront town of Manteo, North Carolina for several winters has been a wonderful experience. To be able to access subject matter without the car and at any time of day is beyond convenient; it's beautiful. The most obvious photo subject is...
When I parked at beach access ramp #4 along Cape Hatteras National Seashore on January 10, 2024 I had no ideas about what I might photograph, only that sunset might provide opportunity. What I needed was a walk. Walking clears my head and is often associated, for...
For several years I've been over-wintering in North Carolina's Outer Banks. There's a set of conditions that will always have me driving north towards this bright yellow Art Nouveau home at Corolla Historic Park: calm (no wind) and clear (no clouds). In my limited...
My mother always feared the Bonner Bridge! And for good reason. It was routinely ranked as one of the worst bridges in America. Like spoiled milk, the Bonner had long passed it's stated expiration date. By the early 2000's, the bridge--built in 1963--had long...
Flexibility in the field is something I pride myself on. I shoot what the landscape tells me to shoot. No plan's so set in stone that I won't pivot and take advantage of natural gifts in my path. And on this evening, it was Cannonball Jellyfish. I walked past the...
March is all about the Lowcountry of South Carolina. There's no comparable in my annual photography travels. Color. So much color. The most amazing trees. Draping heavy to the ground--and below--and then back up again. Flowers. Riotous azalea. Spicy vanilla...
As February draws to a close, it's time again for me to turn my attention away from the coast and into the forest. Life is certainly on the cusp of popping out of the thick leaf litter once again. And decay. Mushrooms and fungi. Like the False Turkey Tail Mushrooms...
"And then, some morning in the second week, the mind wakes, comes to life again. Not in a city sense--no--but beach-wise. It begins to drift, to play, to turn over in gentle careless rolls like those lazy waves on the beach. One never knows what chance treasures...
When I was a boy--aside from the obvious ball sports like basketball and football--I spent my time with a bunch of matchbox cars that I liked to line up and organize every day. I'm not sure what I got out of that. I also had a bunch of marbles and crayons. I've...
As a kid, my family always went to the Outer Banks in the heat of summer. I came to love the Outer Banks during summer. First, it was simply spending all day long in the waves. Not coming out until my eyes were bloodshot and my skin sunburned. Then, it was...
The Scotch Bonnet is considered, by many, to be the holy grail of beachcombing finds in North Carolina. This little three-inch long, plaid checkered sea snail shell is quite a difficult find. Oddly enough, the Scotch Bonnet was deemed the official state shell of...
Did you know that sea pottery, or sea china, was a thing? I didn't! Sea pottery is shards of broken earthenware that has undergone the same process as sea glass: broken, tumbled, smoothed and spit back into the shell hash with the tides. When I first started...
New home for sale: priced to move. Bargain. May have dings, dents, and considerable blemish to the finish. Spacious interior. Unconditioned space. Single occupancy preferred. Best offers only. Shark-Eye Moon Snail Shell found along Cape Hatteras National...
Happy #stackersaturday! It always gives me a kick thinking about what is considered acceptable, honorable uses of ones time, energy and effort. And, on the flip side, what is considered wasteful, unproductive, and ultimately unacceptable. I've spent twelve hour days...
This was one of those poor-planning-lazy-wakeup-didn't-quite-get-to-my-location-on-time type of photographs! By the time we cruised around the circle in front of the historic Bodie Island Lighthouse, the sky was already doing its thing. I just pulled the car onto...
Pure seascapes are something I love to shoot. Nothing but the ocean and the sky. The interface between land and water; marine and terrestrial. Moving water is mesmerizing to me and so fun to shoot behind the lens. Add some good light and all the ingredients are...
After several successful winters, I was baited into extending my typical one-month stay into a two-month adventure including February. It didn't go well. January was a bust. Weather was cold and wet. My productivity was minimal. February was much the same. There...
I saw a photograph by Susannah (@lulannah) on Instagram of lichen on an American Holly tree within Nags Head Woods Preserve. The lichen was bright red and spread in patches of varying intensity over the light gray bark of the tree. It was amazing! I was instantly...
Day two of showing Kristi Parsons around the Outer Banks began with lots of potential. The calm conditions from the night before held on over night; the forecast called for reflective sunrise conditions. Skies were crowded with clouds. Everything was lining up...
In 2019 I teamed up with Kristi Parsons to put together a 2020 Spirit of the Southern Appalachian Mountains calendar. Kristi's efforts to sell the calendar were so successful that we decided to use the profits to spend a week in the Outer Banks, a place Kristi had...
The Outer Banks are part of a lichen biodiversity hotspot. I had no idea! I'm familiar with lichens from my work in the Southern Appalachians, often considered the crown jewel of lichen biodiversity in this country. But, the Outer Banks? It turns out that the...
Walking the beach is like treasure hunting, at least for me. Every single night the entire physical landscape is washed and stripped. Changed. New tides bring forth new treasures. The ocean redistributes this wealth in accordance with weather, winds, tides etc....
February 2021 was exceptionally wet in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It rained. And it rained again. All that water needs to go somewhere and there's nowhere really for it to go on a sandbar with a high water table. No sewers and streams and rivers to carry...