Snowstorm 2025

The National Weather Service measured 8 inches of snow in Waves. It was relatively unusual, but it seems in the last 50 years we’ve had a similar event about every 10 or 12 years. I’ve seen higher snowfall amounts a few times, as much as 12 inches.

This recent storm was fun and visually stimulating. Although blowing a gale, temperatures never dropped much below freezing. It was exhilarating to be the first person to make footprints toward the beach near my home.

Never whiteout conditions, the snowfall was moderate yet consistent for nearly 20 hours.

The seas were lively, but the real show for me was the beach.

Snow and wind continued as I looked at different vantage points.

The dunes were a treasure trove of possibilities for a camera.

While the tendency is to shoot horizontally, vertical compositions can be just as effective.

Who knows when there’ll be another opportunity like this!

 

Looking Back

Nearly a lifetime ago I began searching for a better way of life. Out of school and more on my own, I was content, but the suburbs of DC was not where I wanted to be. Surfing had given me a taste of Hatteras Island and after some trips there, I was inextricably drawn back to the island. It was uncrowded, relatively undeveloped, and there were waves. An extended visit of 6 months turned into 50 years. Where did that time go? 

All along the way, I nurtured an interest in photography. I loved the environment, and culture. Before long those things embraced me and wouldn’t let go.

Nowadays I spend time evaluating and organizing what I’ve done as a photographer. There are lots of images… too many count.

A recent job got me digging in, editing and printing for a permanent display in our neighborhood Community Building. I made a photograph of some of those finished prints on my work table to see how they looked. Collectively it’s a record of the past. Documenting history was never my intent as I shot the surroundings, but time passing made it that way. 

I’m grateful for what the island has given me, the experience of finding my niche, and encountering a colorful cast of characters. It’s been a great run!

Aircraft

Dad was a career Navy officer so my family flew military transport to various bases overseas. At 7 years old, I remember flying a DC-4 (or something similar) to Newfoundland. A few years later, we were on long round trip flights to and from the island of Guam on a (MATS) Lockheed Constellation. Ever since, I’ve had a fascination for airplanes.

On a west coast trip recently, we visited the Palm Springs Air Museum in California, where there was plenty to see.

Highlights for me included a replica Memphis Belle used in filming the 1990 movie of the same name.

The B-17 is powered by 4 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engines. This bomber is undergoing extensive maintenance to be flown again for a living history experience.

Who wouldn’t love the graphics on this P-40 Warhawk Fighter?

During World War II at 18 years old, our 41st President flew and bailed out of a TBM Avenger like this one.

Of personal interest was the museum’s extensive collection of POW/MIA Vietnam era bracelets. During that war, my brother-in-law flew as a navigator aboard an A-6A Intruder off the USS Kitty Hawk. Returning from a mission over North Vietnam, Jim and his pilot were lost and listed MIA. After years of searching, remains were located and verified through DNA testing. 2006 he was brought home and buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

It was emotional to see 2 bracelets with Jim’s name and missing-in-action date. My family wore these for years in hopes of his coming home alive. He was 23 years old and the loss changed our family dynamic forever.

 

Front Row Seat

In 2002 while touring with a group of educators along Hatteras Island, renown coastal geologist Stan Riggs mentioned the annual erosion rate along North Rodanthe at 14 to 16 feet. Living on the edge, I’d seen it happening, especially after a groin was built at Oregon Inlet in 1989. More recently the issue has gotten lots of publicity and we’ve become a poster child for beach erosion.

My last blog entry addressed a certain row of houses collapsing into the surf. It’s a predictable yet sad spectacle. When the house called Front Row Seat went down on September 24th, I photographed what was left. Formerly known as Fric, the mess it left was in retrospect, avoidable. Dare County should have never issued the building permit in the first place.

Other rental beach houses fall (pun intended) into the same category. The pink and aqua-green McMansions on the left were built in 2007 and permits issued after objections to them being constructed. I took this photo in 2012. Now a decade later they’re closer to the brink.

On this ever-changing barrier island, the ocean isn’t the culprit!

Fric and Frac

In 1998 a man with 2 oceanfront lots on the north end of Rodanthe had an idea to build two fairly similar cottages side by side, one called Fric and the other Frac. When he applied for his permits, building inspector Elvin Hooper denied them because the plans didn’t meet legal setback rules from the last line of vegetation. As a result the applicant appealed to the planning director and county commissioners. Despite the shore’s high erosion rate, they granted him a variance and instructed Elvin to issue the permits.

This photo was taken a year later as Hurricane Dennis spun offshore and wreaked havoc on north Rodanthe. As a result several structures went down, but Fric and Frac somehow survived its first year. 

Now 25 years later, attempts to protect the oceanfront continue to be futile.

The two houses in the foreground are the latest to go down, strewn all over the place.

The houses formerly known as Fric and Frac are standing dubiously as other houses nearby are also condemned. They may be next to litter our once pristine seashore.