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Up, Up and Away

My dad, a professional meteorologist, would sometimes bring a weather balloon home for us to play with. I was captivated at how, being lighter than air, it could rise to the ceiling above me. I remember watching him release a weather balloon into the atmosphere. It was a pleasurable, even emotional experience as it rose higher and higher, then disappeared from sight.

Nowadays balloons are launched in other ways. They are used in a celebratory manner, at weddings, birthdays, and memorials. Several years ago as I watched the news, helium filled balloons were let go to honor each man killed in a West Virginia coal mining accident. Once out of sight, I wondered where those balloons might end up. One thing for sure, eventually they would come down to earth.

Derelict balloons often end up as litter on our beaches.

In January 2004, I saw a big leatherback turtle that had washed in at Oregon Inlet. The thousand pound reptile was just barely alive. On the scene were National Park Service personnel, two sea turtle biologists from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and a local volunteer veterinarian.

It was determined that the animal could not be saved, and that the best approach was to euthanize the creature. It was a solemn moment, as the lethal injection of sodium pentathol was administered to the turtle. In a few minutes, the leatherback lay lifeless on the sand.

State biologists Wendy Cluse and Matthew Godfrey wait as the leatherback, with syringe in its neck, is euthanized.

A necropsy revealed the sea turtle had ingested something resembling its natural food of jellyfish. The culprit was a once helium-filled balloon that had fallen back to earth. The errant balloon lodged in the digestive tract, making it impossible for the turtle to feed and stay alive.

I keep this image hanging on my studio wall, and it gets a lot of reaction from visitors. I try to educate folks that those soaring balloons descend to earth, always become litter and sometimes killers.

Surf’s Up

There was a time when surfing consumed a huge part of my life. I checked the waves every morning to dictate the course of each day, so it became a natural progression for me to photograph the ramblings in my surfing world. When the waves got really good, I was often torn between being a surfer or a photographer. Sometimes one action would be sacrificed for the other. Either way it was fun and exhilarating.

I used to shoot a lot of black and white in the early days, and bought film in 100 foot rolls and hand rolled them into individual cassettes. In 1973, I swam out at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and shot Frankie Lagana, one of the Buxton boys. My waterproof Nikonos was a great little camera for that intimate perspective.

Mike Wingenroth had a lot to do with my decision in moving to Rodanthe. He and his wife Mary Jo moved there earlier and put me and Louie up for a while. Mike is shown here in Summer of 1974, for an early morning surf north of town, with Bear at his side. It was a time when taking an unleashed dog on the beach was not a big deal.

My room mate Louie Batzler was, and still is a brick mason. We worked locally building foundations and walls. Being self employed had the advantage of leaving a job when the waves got good. Louie was the boss, so when he said “more mud”, I mixed a batch of mortar. When he said “surf’s up”, I went surfing. Louie was riding a “Hot Dog” surfboard when I made this shot at The Shoals, north of the Rodanthe pier in 1975.

A lot of great surfers have ridden the beautiful waves at the lighthouse’s first jetty. From my water perspective, Greg Loehr was one of the best. He arrived among a contingent of surfers from Florida in the early 70’s. This 1975 photograph was used by Natural Art Surf Shop to screen t-shirts, and more recently on the sign outside their store in Buxton.

Bryant Clark was another good friend of mine, and a component of the Delaware crew. Bryant and his brother Brent, along with Rich Parolski had a company called “Hot Dog Surfboards“. Brent was the shaper, and Rich was the glasser. Bryant did all the glossing and artistic finishing to their boards. Here he is on a nice overhead wave in 1974, riding a fish design at the outside bar at New Inlet.

Robin Gerald and I were nearly inseparable surfing partners. We lived near one another, and some people even thought we were brothers. In an extended sense, we were. Here Robin slides into a glassy wall at the old S-curve in 1978.

Kiel Jennette was still in high school in 1977. He was the adopted son of the last Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Keeper’s son, Rany Jennette. Kiel had a great smooth style of surfing, and was a pleasure to watch. This was taken during a beautiful 3 day swell at the lighthouse. I often wondered if he was skipping school for these waves. Years later, Kiel became quite an accomplished trim carpenter. Unfortunately his life was cut short in an altercation with a noisy neighbor. Kiel confronted him, and as he turned away, the neighbor shot him in the back.

Jimbo Brothers was one of the Nags Head surfers to frequent the Rodanthe breaks. In this early 80’s photo he ducks into a pretty curl north of the pier.

One afternoon in 1984, I walked out on the Rodanthe Pier, and was lucky to see a surfer from Florida in the lineup. Tall and lanky, Mike Tabeling had a very powerful style.

!989 was a good year for tropical cyclones. My cousin Johnny Halminski is from California. He visited me that Summer, and got a good dose from an offshore depression while paddling out at the Rodanthe Pier.

For a while I thought that I’d pursue the life of a surfing photographer, work for a publication and even move to Hawaii. As I got more immersed in life on Hatteras, I could see that my career exclusively as a surfing photographer was not to be. I gravitated toward a variety of other local subjects. By the 1990’s shooting the surfing action became more of a side line to supplement my other work.

Exhibits

A few months ago, the Ocracoke Preservation Society invited me to hang an exhibit in their museum on Ocracoke. It needed a Portsmouth Island theme, and would open to coincide with the bi-annual Portsmouth Village Homecoming.

Both Portsmouth and Ocracoke have long been among my favorite places. And I took the opportunity to mount a show of 14 images selected from photographs taken over the last 15 years. The exhibit called “Portsmouth Beckons”, opened with a reception on April 27th. The pictures represent my yearning to go back repeatedly, since my first visit in the Summer of 1980. Seven prints in the show were taken with film, and the other seven were taken with digital cameras.

One of the photographs in the exhibit was taken in 1998 at Doctor’s Creek. During that time, I was shooting with a Pentax medium format camera. Another picture was taken out on the expansive beach near the historic district. “Portsmouth Beckons” will be shown all Summer.

If you’re visiting Ocracoke this season, please stop in at the museum. You won’t be disappointed.

There are lots of exhibits explaining the history and culture of Ocracoke Island.

Portsmouth Village also has a rich and interesting history. As it stands today, it is an exhibit in itself.

The Henry Pigott house has been recently restored, including period furnishings inside.

The Methodist Church at the center of town is still used for a service at every homecoming celebration.

Inside the Portsmouth Lifesaving Station is a beautifully crafted replica of a surfboat.

The culmination of each homecoming is the covered dish dinner, enough for 400 people. The next homecoming is scheduled for April of 2014.

Next I’m mounting a group show at Glen Eure’s Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head. It will feature 3 other photographers and opens with a reception on June 3rd.

Renewal

This is a time of renewal. Rather than celebrating Spring as a turn of the calendar page, I see Spring coming about in the natural world around me. I spend a lot of time in the wetland behind my house. Specific plants and animals exist there, highly adapted to this aquatic and terrestrial environment. They are fascinating to watch, living in completely flooded conditions one day, and nearly dry the next.

This time of year, the marsh turns from brown to a rich green color. New growth sprouts from the muddy ground, giving way to new life.

Salicornia, commonly called glasswort is a fleshy, salt-tolerant plant that stores water and salt in its tissues. It springs up from the ground this time of year, growing throughout the Summer. As a young plant it is edible and tasty. I have had it in salads, no salt needed. By the time Fall arrives, it becomes a brilliant red.

Another sure sign of Spring is when the fiddler crabs emerge from their winter burrows.

On another front, this is a unique Spring in that our community is rebounding after a hurricane. Things are getting some state of normalcy. Some old things taken out, to be replaced by something new. Edward and William Hooper’s house was torn down 2 weeks ago. Now that was a tough one.

Things continue to change.

Moving Experience

Among the many changes that our area has undergone recently, one was the relocation of the historic Salvo Post Office.

When I first moved here, it was all the way on the south edge of town, in front of Melvina Whidbee’s house. In this 1975 photo, Miss Melvina raises the colors for another day of work.

Built in 1910, it was always moved to where the postmaster lived. It’s my understanding that it was originally located near where Dan Leary’s store stood, shown in this 1977 photo.

When Edward Hooper became the postmaster in 1979, it was moved in front of his home.

Edward and his younger brother William, had to leave their home of many decades. The flooding from hurricane Irene inundated it, making it uninhabitable. It is ruined. They are now both living in a home in Nags Head.

The Hooper home now sits vacant and crumbling.

On a beautiful day in 1978, I took this family portrait in front of the Hooper’s. Edward and William stand beside their mother Mariah, flanked by neighboring nieces.

Around Thanksgiving of 2010, I shot this picture of William and Edward relaxing on the porch. I had just fixed a broken window pane in their kitchen that was letting the weather in. It was a very pleasant visit with them.

Last month some volunteers moved the tiny post office from Edward’s up to the Salvo Fire Department. It will be fixed and maintained to save it. The fate of the Hooper property is uncertain, but I can visualize the old house razed and replaced by a McMansion.