Category Archives: buildings

Why I Live Here

People ask, how’s the photography going? My answer can vary, but it depends what I’m working on. Nowadays I’ve cut back shooting, to spend more time editing and archiving what’s accumulated. I’m a photographic hoarder. I maintain and store what I shoot in a reasonably categorized fashion, so when looking for particular images, I can almost always find them. There are a few missing in action, others may have been inadvertently tossed. I just do the best I can.

I have boxes of saved work prints. Many shot with film, others taken with digital cameras that I began using in 2003. For the above image I spread some 10 inch prints across my work table and photographed them from above.

They show some of the reasons why I live here. So to answer that question, it’s going good!

Commercial Fishing

Moving here decades ago, introduced me to a culture of commercial fishing. It was a livelihood that captured my attention. I spent lots of time watching newfound friends hauling in their catch, sometimes prolific, many times not. I hung out at the creek where locals kept their boats and packed fish. It became a passion for my photography.

Old wooden boats had beautiful lines, particularly the traditional shad boats, like these in the background of this 1985 photograph. I noticed the wooden workboats were being replaced by ones built of fiberglass.

Shooting this 1980 image, I was especially taken by four shad boats tied up at the Beasley fish house in Colington. I would see them frequently long hauling Pamlico Sound at Rodanthe. Originally designed to use sail power, most had been converted to using gasoline engines.

I revisited that same fish house two weeks ago. The shad boats were gone, the building in disrepair. Some fishing was still apparent but it was not the same. For me, the scene symbolized the decline of independent commercial fishing enterprises, and made me sad.

 

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.

Incoming Tide

Summer season has peaked and there’s plenty of activity on Hatteras Island. It seems our beaches are being enjoyed by more visitors than ever.

Looking north from the deck of the Rodanthe Pier recently, I noticed a distinct line drawn in the sand from a high tide. Beachgoers almost seemed defiant, setting up right next to it. Occasionally a wave would wash a bit higher, causing  groups to retreat.

With more oceanfront cottages collapsing into the sea lately, I saw some symbolism here. The south view from the pier illustrates a more serious issue. I can understand folk’s desire for a castle in the sand, but get too close and eventually there’s hell to pay.