I just returned from a much needed 10 day long trip to the Outer Banks. Tommy White and I kicked off the trip with our highly anticipated Mountains to Sea Workshops OBX Workshop with guest instructor Athena Carey. It was a blast and our group explored ancient lighthouses, dilapidated piers and marsh and dune scenes under some fantastic light. We also had some great meals together chatting about photography and laughing together. Good friendships were made and I hope that we all can stay in touch through the magic of social media and email before the next opportunity to meet again.
After the workshop my family moved our camp down from the Nags Head area to Frisco a little town in the heart of Cape Hatteras very near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Josh Carlisle couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get away for a bit and drive the 9 hours for a few photographs so he met up with me and we headed out to photograph this iconic Light.
We first went out to the beach and had good fun finding compositions of the lighthouse over the dunes. Then we played in the water and got pretty wet hoping for some interesting light over the rushing water. It was intense in the near darkness with rushing waves behind us and extremely limited light to work with trying to capture some images that spoke to us.
Here is one Josh captured of me playing in the water. 🙂
Our original intention was to take a break for a bit and then come back to photograph the night sky behind the lighthouse, but by this time the Milky Way was clearly visible and we pushed right through to hit the lighthouse. As we got there we noticed a whole beavy of vehicles, which was highly unusual for 10 o’clock at night. As we entered though we noticed that the rangers were running night time groups up the lighthouse using flashlights. As you can imagine the light spill from these groups was severe and a few people were playing around shinning there lights on the lighthouse. That would not work at all for our purposes, but if there is one thing I have learned over these years as a landscape photographer it is patience. So we waited them out getting our settings right and finding the perfect compositions.
The cover shot is one of my favorites that captured. A short interval of light streaming out of the lighthouse and yet had enough shutter time to get the Milky Way in good detail. I also really like the dark nature of this image as a whole because it gives me a feeling of the light shattering the darkness.
Anyway hope you enjoy it and are having a great summer. Until next time, Cheers!
