Category Archives: Sea

Caught between a rock and a hard place

Oregon Inlet is a place notorious for vessels in distress. I’ve seen it through the years, as man has tried to tame the inlet. Today I heard about a fishing vessel stranded on a shoal up there. I don’t know the circumstances, only that it had run aground.

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When I arrived on the scene, northwest winds were blowing a gale and temperatures were below freezing. It was bone chilling just to go out on the catwalk to get a better vantage point. The Coast Guard Station at Oregon Inlet stood by with their 47 foot motor lifeboat.

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This being just another incident of curiosity on the Outer Banks, I hope no one is injured in this mishap. I also am hopeful that this boat can be saved in tact. Commercial fishermen have a tough enough livelihood as it is, without loosing their boat.

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P.S. The “Sheila Rene” was returning to Wanchese with a recent catch of fish, said to be about 10,000 pounds when it ran up on a shoal. The trawler was freed Sunday evening and has been towed back to port.

More troubles at the S-Curve

Just as NCDOT people are working feverishly to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the S-Curve portion of highway 12, another weather system hits. At high tide this morning, the new dune area was breached and suddenly there’s 2 feet of sea water on the road. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again.

 

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This looks like a repeat of the last northeaster.

 

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Traffic moves slowly, one lane at a time, while DOT equipment continues working.

 

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The Outer Banks can be hell on your vehicle

 

Even with the new alternative road bed paved just west of the old pavement, the reconstructed dune line going in, complete with huge sandbags, it looks like a loosing battle to me. I wish I could say differently, but at this stage of the game, that’s how I feel about it. And with the storm season only beginning, it’s going to be a long winter, as far as this is concerned.

 

 

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Condemnation notice.

 

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Jacuzzi anyone?

 

Editing a Storm

This blog entry was originally posted on November 19, 2009


 

Now that the storm is over, the memory still lingers. Many of us also have images to refreshen those memories. Some of my favorites have already been published on this blog. But I have a few more to share.

 

At one point, during the fury of the storm the sun popped out for a little while. The seas were building and the water was swirling across the shore. Walking the area of Mirlo Beach, I could see that this was just getting more intense. I can’t explain taking pictures in this situation. It’s almost as though another sense kicks in. I’m surrounded by vibrant, visual energy, and I have to enclose portions of that in the viewfinder. Some shots, I know have impact as they are taken, but many come as surprises, later in the editing process.

 

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This may be the end of my storm entries for a while, at least I hope so.

 

 

 

NCDOT to the Rescue…… again

This entry was originally posted on November 16, 2009

 Yesterday the 15th of November, one day after the storm wiped out a portion of highway 12 at the S-Curve, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials began work to reconstruct the main road coming into north Rodanthe. They are working to build back the berm that was washed away. What they are going to do about resurfacing the road is another matter. In the meantime, only 4-wheel drive traffic is allowed to transit on a temporary sand road west of the affected area. This is in effect only during daytime hours.

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This morning, I looked out my upstairs window over the Pamlico Sound to see the NCDOT ferry “Stanford White” heading to Rodanthe. Once I arrived on the scene, I learned that the ferry operations would begin tomorrow carrying mainly commercial traffic and other vehicles between the Stumpy Point ferry terminal and Rodanthe. This is not an official notice, however, just what I was hearing at the time. It could be rumor. It could be fact. So far I see no notice about it on NCDOT or Dare County web sites.

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The new Rodanthe ferry service has had a few test runs in the past, but never truly implemented.

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Salvo native, Richie Austin seems pleased about the prospects.

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Jack Cahoon, the present NCDOT Ferry Operations Director was personally on hand to help smooth out the transition. Locals here have known for some time that this day was coming. It was just a matter of when.

 

Camera with a View

I am an admirer of some of the great masters of early photography. It was not only their vision that made the work great, but in many cases, the types of equipment used. They didn’t have the huge array of advanced cameras to choose from, like we do today. Things were a lot more primitive. 

 

One of my favorite early photographers is Edward Weston. He shot with an 8×10 view camera. Can you imagine a finished 8 inch by 10 inch negative? His black and white prints are exquisite, and have a tonal quality and sharpness that is hard to describe. In 1978, I had the pleasure of attending a photography workshop in Carmel, California, where I studied under his son, Cole.

 

Working in 35mm, I could see the superior quality of large format photography. I examined gallery prints made by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and his sons Brett and Cole, among others. When I got back home on the east coast, I wanted to apply some large format in my own work. View cameras are expensive. But when I saw an ad in American Photographer  for a kit to build my own 4×5 view camera, I jumped at the chance. For $85, it included the lens plate, ground glass, bellows, shifts and tilts, everything except a lens. My friend Allen Jones who was attending RIT at the time, scored my Ilex Acuton 215mm lens for $250 in Rochester.

 

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The assembled 4×5 view camera kit, designed by architect, Les Fader

 

Using the finished camera became a learning experience, and I made some mistakes. There were issues with light leaks between the film holders and the camera, and sheet film developing techniques, but I eventually kinda got the hang of it. On the windy, often stormy conditions of the Outer Banks, the bulky view camera has it limitations. So I used it mainly for still life compositions around commercial fishing harbors. 

 

 

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The “Edwin Jr.” derelict at Avon Harbor

 

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Crab Skiff at Avon Harbor

 

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Net Skiff, Rodanthe Creek

 

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Shad Boat, Rodanthe Creek

 

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Longhauler, Collins Gray at Rodanthe Fish House

 

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Knapp’s Narrows at Tilghman Island, Maryland

 

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Chicamacomico Winter, 1980

 

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A Dune near Buxton

 

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A Tribute to Weston

 

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Broken Glass, Rodanthe Creek

 

I made about 60 Tri-X negatives, then decided to put the camera away. It was a lot of effort to use. And as photographer Ernst Haas, once told my class, shooting with a view camera was “like carrying the cross”. In a way, that wasn’t far from the truth. Besides at the time, it didn’t quite fit my style of shooting. I never even printed most of the images.

 

Then a few months ago, I found some negatives stored, with silica gel, in an old ammo box. For the past month, I’ve been making prints. Some beautiful 16×20’s too. I can’t tell you what a refreshing change it is from the popular digital shooting arena. Printing in black and white again is like finding an old long lost friend. Don’t be surprised if you see some new work from this old camera.