It had a surreal feel.
We were sitting on the warm sand of the beach at Kitty Hawk, NC, after 6 hours of driving — soaking up the atmosphere and trying to expunge that thump-thump-thump sound of tires on expansion joints we were still hearing in our heads. My camera was laying in my lap as I absentmindedly stared out over the water to the far horizon just letting it soak in.
The warmth of the sand was contrasted by a chill in the breeze coming off the late April waters of the Atlantic. A couple hundred feet up the beach dozens of white wooden chairs and a floral lattice stood upon the sands awaiting a scheduled wedding. A few early guest were seated, huddling and wrapped as best they could keeping warm — a beach wedding may sound warm but in this case the reality was different, especially being the end of April.
A wedding photographer was running around frantic — bright sun, white sand, white chairs, washed out backgrounds, light colored summer clothing and that white, white wedding dress — a nightmare formula for overexposures and blown-out whites. I’m glad I wasn’t him.
Meanwhile, the seagulls obviously considered the beach theirs as they fearlessly patrolled the waters edge. After all, it was not yet tourist season when the shear number of people forced them to give way and become beggars and no temporary wedding invasion was going to change their claim.
About this time, several young men merged to a spot between us and the pending wedding finding the waves and beach conditions good for riding surfboards.
Some were very skilled at getting the most from the small waves available that day. They would stand on the beach watching and timing the wave action. When finding acceptable conditions they’d begin running toward the surf with board in hand, tossing it down onto the shallow back-tow of water from the previous wave, jumping onboard at the last moment providing considerable momentum for them and the board meeting the next inbound wave. Meeting that wave they’d either catch air in a jump or do an amazing 180 degree swivel, seeming to defy gravity.
I watched in admiration of their skills for several rides until my mind finally kicked in and I realized perhaps I would like to be taking some photos. So with my Nikon D700 set to continuous focus and continuous low speed those thump-thump-thump sounds soon became click-click-click, resulting in the above photos.
A surfer dude, formal wedding, seagull wildlife refuge all in this small corner of the beach. Like I said, a bit surreal.
A fine action series. I like how you chose to show these pictures. Nice post.
Thanks, I appreciate it, Don!
Great post. How the heck did you get the images displayed this way?
Chris, thanks! Simply preplanning and a little raw html work to get these photos to display as I wanted them to.
An odd combination of elements for sure Earl. Cold or not, I still appreciate this trip to the coast. I would probably be there every day if I lived close by.
Hi Mark. I love the water and I like to visit the beach and ocean regularly but long term I prefer the mountains and hills. The closest beach (Myrtle Beach, SC) is about 4.5 hours away…and this area around Kitty Hawk/Outer Banks is a little over 6 hours — not close enough for visits all the time but can easily been done over a long weekend.
still much closer than I am. I certainly wouldn’t mind a few weekends a summer on the ocean. I visited the Outer Banks area when I was a kid, have always wanted to go back.
Some great action shots, Earl. I admire anyone who has this kind of ability. It takes a lot of talent. The gull almost looks noble in this shot. Very nice.
Ken, yes to be young, athletic and fearless again — I admire them as well. Thanks!
All this in one day, it must have been a real blast just observing!
Steve, it was. All the above photos were taken while sitting in the exact same spot. Thanks!
That’s one thing you and I have in common, sitting with our cameras in our laps until it clicks in that is will only take images when I take control of it. Great series of a most surreal time.
Thanks, Monte. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing we share. I wouldn’t want to be so consumed by making photos that I lost the personal enjoyment of the moment. I guess it’s about balance…as are all things. :-)
Very cool, Earl. I like that you were so into it that you had to remember to take pictures. You soaked up a lot of detail about the surrounding area, too. I’m with you, I’m glad that I wasn’t that wedding photographer. Great surfer series, dude! ;)
Thanks, Paul. I watched that wedding photographer for while and he came across as being stressed out. I hope he’s good at post-processing!
All these photos were made from the same spot with my butt resting firmly on the sand. That’s one of the things that was so surreal about it.
awesome action shots! Funny observations about the wedding photographer, hopefully it worked out well for him..
Nik, thanks. The photographer probably did okay, they didn’t look like a very discerning group.
Who needs the circus to come to town?! Great story, valuable lessons, and wonderful pictures. Thanks, Earl.