The Duck Research Pier is the toughest pier to find in the Outer Banks.  By design.  The structure is not open to the public.  Established in 1977 by the United States Army Corp of Engineers, the purpose of the Duck Research Pier and Field Research Facility is to advance coastal knowledge through collection of data regarding wind, current, and tide in the nearshore.  The pier deck is concrete, stretching 1840 feet into the Atlantic Ocean on piles with steel casings.

The village of Duck is notorious for denying public beach access within town limits.  If you’re not in lodging located directly within a Duck community, don’t expect to find parking and/or public beach access.  Duck, instead, funnels traffic away from the beach and towards restaurants, shops, and a public soundside boardwalk and park.  Despite the tough reputation, however, I’ve always been treated well and friendly as I tried to respectfully and quietly move through the neighborboods to reach the pier for some photography.  It is not an easy location, though.

I always wanted to photograph this particular pier because of its symmetry and building materials.  It took me a number of visits to figure out what I liked most about the pier, as well as how best to bring those aspects to the forefront while pushing  supporting elements to the background.  The primary element that jumped out to me was the warm, rich color of the rusted pile casings in contrast to the cool blue of the Atlantic.  At sunrise, the pier was just a black silhouette and the photo was primarily about the sky and the light–I wasn’t satisfied with that setup.  I found the late evening light, instead, to provide the best supporting emphasis on the pier casings and their rich coloring, as well as casting some interesting shadows as a bonus.  For the ocean, I chose to use about six stops of graduated filter to extend my exposure time, thus smoothing the waves and removing any distractions other than the blue coloring.

Camera:  Nikon D810
Lens:  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 @ 130mm
Tripod:  Really Right Stuff TVC-33

Date taken:  January 26, 2021
Settings:  f14, 53.0 seconds, iso-31