Archive for the ‘Outer Banks’ Tag

Daughter And Dad On A Rainbow Day   1 comment

Outer Banks 2013“Daughter And Dad On A Rainbow Day” (Hannah & Jason Morris — Outer Backs 06/07/13) — Image by kenne

 

Outer Banks Sunset   Leave a comment

Sunset On The Beach-art-72-2Outer Banks Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne

We walk the shoreline

Meditating on our lifeĀ 

Blinded by the light.

— kenne

To Make Soft . . .   Leave a comment

beach-web-1385-1-art-72Photo-Artistry by kenne

To Make Soft . . .

Words,
words have feelings

Feelings,
feelings are everything

Struggling,
struggling to share feelings

Placing,
placing petitions of desire

Door,
door of your heart

Shut,
shut not the door

Love,
love will concur

Scorn,
scorn not what we do

Looking,
looking for peace of mind

Truth,
truth will set us free

Explaining,
explaining not what is real

Complicated,
complicated for the weak

Knowing,
knowing not our time to go

Lifetime,
lifetime is no time at all

— kenne

Outer Banks of North Carolina   4 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013Outer Banks of North Carolina (June 2013) — Image by kenne

Tinder waves of light
Soften by dark scattered clouds
Moving in and out.

— kenne

 

Sunrise, Outer Banks Of North Carolina   Leave a comment

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013Sunrise, Outer Banks Of North Carolina

Moving surf
under the sunrise
why such beauty
only a few
can understand
in a world of black
not of color
but of mind.

— kenne

Posted February 8, 2018 by kenneturner in Information, Photography

Tagged with , , ,

Bob’s Wild Horses ā€œSunset Tourā€ On A Cloudy Day   3 comments

Most of what follows were first posted in April 2008. Even on a cloudy day, the Outer Banks is awesome. — kenne

April & Jason's WeddingThe Ocean is Winning! Since this image was taken ten years ago,
I can’t help but wonder if it’s still there.

Before heading north, Joy called to make reservations for the tour and was told that the only time available was the 6:00 p.m. sunset tour. I started laughing hysterically. Sunset tour??!! Since we had only briefly seen the sun in five days, it seemed so absurd, let appropriate to end our visit to the Outer Banks on Bob’s Wild Horses ā€œSunset Tour.ā€

Outer Bank North Island blog

Such a tour should be a natural for taking photos, but I knew the lateness of the day and the dark cloud cover would not make for getting some good photos of the wild horses. Let in the end, it was the total experience of seeing the northern part of the Outer Banks that made our decision a good one. I say this since it is my observation that many of the Outer Banks inhabitants are still making the same mistakes of the forefathers by not understanding the forces of nature as did the indigenous people’s of America’s. The best way to perceive the Outer Banks is to know they are a series of sand dunes that create a barrier along the North Carolina coast.

ā€œYet the time will soon come when this simple people must be driven from their homes, pursued by a fate as irresistible as the deluge of old, living behind them all the associations of their race, of their customs and their occupations. . . . Powerless against this tidal wave of sand they must flee away and hide themselves from its fury in a part of the island below the capeā€¦ā€ — John R. Spears, 1890

We are glad that we were able to see firsthand the continued stupidity of human greed, which is so dramatically displayed on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Maybe it was a case of timing or the more just the rolling hills of the northern Outer Backs, but when we arrived in Duck, the strong winds we had experienced for days seemed to have disappeared. What a relief! It was almost as if we had entered another world. Plus, Duck is an attractive more residential community with less of the tourist commercialism of Nags Head. As our waiter at dinner, that evening said, ā€œ . . . Duck is less ā€œseven-elevenist.ā€

Painted Horse - Duck blog

After stopping a few places alone Duck Road, we continued north to Corolla, then about three miles north to Corolla Light to Bob’s Wild Horse Tours. As most normal people would have already guessed, no one else was taking the sunset tour, so we had our own private two hours tour.

All paved roads end about two miles north of Corolla Light, at which time continued access should only be with a four-wheel drive vehicle. Shifting into all-drive, our driver headed over the sand dunes onto the beach and continued north, while watching for the partially covered stumps of an ancient petrified forest. The forest used to be well offshore, but the continued encroachment of the sea now makes the stump remains a real hazard to vehicles using the shore for a highway. Although we were taking this tour to see the wild horses of the Outer Banks, I was beginning to observe that we were, as if going back in time, experiencing what it was like before paved roads existed on the Outer Banks.

Lighthouse blog

ā€œBack in 1936, a bewildered motorist, struggling through the sandy ruts of the Outer Banks, stopped on top of the great flat near Pea Island where a WPA worker was building sand fences.
He wanted to know which road to take to Hatteras.
ā€˜Take road 108,’ he was told.
A half-hour later, after following one auto track in the sand after another, he had circled back and approached the same man.
ā€˜Which road did you tell me to take to Hatteras?’ he asked.
The boy wearily pointed to the maze of ruts.
ā€˜Take 108. There’s 108 roads to Hatteras.ā€™ā€ (Hatteras Highway, Bill Sharpe – 1952)

Outer Bank North Island blog

As we continued north, I thought we would stop seeing the large beach houses common to the south Outer Banks, but I didn’t take into consideration the cowboy mentally that exist about as far east as one can get.

ā€œNever mind that there’s no road. It doesn’t matter that few banks are willing to finance. And even though it costs an average of 20 percent more to building a house because building materials must be brought in by four-wheel drive . . . property values in Carova Beach have increased in the past four years, in some cases by almost 500 percent.ā€ (Lorraine Eaton – 1989)

I’m not sure how far north we drove on the beach, but the driver kept referring to the North Carolina/Virginia state line. Regardless, I had already decided that this might be a great place to visit, but definitely not to live. I was even more convinced of my conclusion when we drove up on two large three-story large beach houses literally sitting on the beach. (Later, on our return at high tide, the sea was up to the structures.)

Shortly after passing the two beach houses, the driver turned west over the dunes into an area subdivided by rutted sand roads in search of wild horses.

ā€œIn applying the term wild to these horses, it is not meant that they are as much as deer or wolves, or as the herds of horses, wild for many generations on the great grassy plains of South America or Texas. A man may approach these, within gunshot distance without difficulty. But he could not get much nearer, without alarming the herd, and causing them (to flee for safety to the marshes, or across water, (to which they take very freely), or to more remote distance on the sands.ā€ (Edmund Ruffin – 1859)

It seemed that we were driving in circles since the gray skies with little light remaining continue to challenge my sense of direction. We might have continued this uneventful quest to see the wild horses when we came upon another tour group. After the drivers discussed possible sighting, our driver set off following the other vehicle in the marshes.

Outer Bank Wild Horses blog

In a short time, some horses were spotted, at which time everyone set out on foot to get a closer look. Having little light, and in need of a tripod, I leaned up against a small tree to steady the camera. Still not having enough light I increased the ISO and began to take a few photos. Any good photographer knows that one of the essential factors of taking good photos is timing, so after making the best of the situation, all was now in the hands of Photoshop.

I may never have another opportunity to photograph the Outer Banks, so I remain pleased with what I was able to capture. Often, life’s most memorable images are not filled with beautiful skies.

Before driving back to Nags Head, we stopped for dinner at a little restaurant and raw bar, ā€œNorth Banks,ā€ in one of Corolla’s shopping areas called TimBuck II. Yes, TimBuck II! The food and atmosphere were the best we experienced on the Outer Banks. A great way to bring closure to our Five days on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Having come to these shores for April and Jason’s wedding, and having done some online exploring of things to do and places to go, we leave with memories that I hope these words and photos will make for lasting first impressions. (Please note that I have avoided referencing April’s wedding in April. But, it could have generated a poetic ring if one was poetic!)

Outer Bank Wild Horses -2 blogAll Images by kenne

ā€œFew travelers take the time to write down descriptions of places they see for the first time, or of the people they encounter there. Something about the Outer Banks, however, causes many visitors to feel that they had better make a record of their first impressions while the memories are fresh. This has been going on periodically for more than four and a half centuries, since 1542 to be exact, when a Florentine adventurer anchored off the Banks and sent a party ashore for water.ā€ – David Stick, ā€œAn Outer Banks Readerā€

kenne

A Family Vacation On The Outer Backs   3 comments

April, Hannah, Audrey and Joy

April, Hannah, Audrey and Joy

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An early June visit with family, vacationing in Duck, NC. — Images by kenne

Click here to see the complete set of Outer Banks (OBX) photos on Flickr.

Capturing The Moment — Outer Banks Scenes   3 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013Images by kenne

Capturing The Moment — Shore Fishing On The Outer Banks   2 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013Shore Fishing On The Outer Banks — Images by kenne

Horse Statues Of OBX   2 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013Outer Banks Horse Statues — Images by kenne

Capturing The Moment — Passersby   2 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013“Passersby” — Image by kenne

A mom and a son

Walk along a windy beach

Black on a white post.

kenne

Capturing The Moment — Morning Walk Along The Beach, Day Two   11 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013The Outer Backs (OBX) of North Carolina — Images by kenne

Walking On The Morning Beach

The herons cry, the sea gulls screech,Ā 
In the graying light of dawn
I come upon a sandy form;Ā 

And reaching down I almost toddle,Ā 
Grasping it, it is a bottle,Ā 
Caked with sea weed and with sand,Ā 
It feels so cold within my hand;Ā 

I brush the sand off the green glass,Ā 
I almost drop it from my grasp;Ā 
But seeing there’s a note within,Ā 
I am intrigued by such a whim;Ā 

I work the cork to pull it out,Ā 
It’s glued within the tapered spout,Ā 
I hold the bottle by the stock
And smash it on a sea side rock;Ā 

I lift the paper from the shards,Ā 
And open it, it is a card;Ā 
It’s damp with algae and sea stained,Ā 
It bears a cry, ‘Please love Elaine.’

For who on what isle so remote
Would send this missive, desperate note;Ā 
To whom there’d be such chanced appeal;Ā 
Above the sea gulls float and wheel;Ā 

From what sandy strand or distant cove
Did she cast this treasure trove,Ā 
An urgent cry from out the heart,Ā 
But where to find her, where to start?Ā 

And so I’m on the internet,Ā 
As a path a better bet;Ā 
To find the soul far out of reach,Ā 
Who’s cry I found upon the beach.Ā 

David McLansky

 

Capturing The Moment — Outer Banks (OBX), Morning One   4 comments

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013The North Carolina Outer Banks (OBX) at Duck — Images by kenne

The Outer Banks, North Carolina
Divide the ocean and the bay
Inviting, isĀ this string of islands
Vacationers to come and play

Two hundred miles of pristine beaches
As far as any eye can see
Morning brings the perfect sunrise
On this land along the sea

The light house on Cape Hatteras
Guided many ships at night
The beaches outside Kitty Hawk
Saw the very first manned flight

The home to herds of feral ponies
Where the pirate Blackbeard died
English settled long ago
Still to this day they do reside

The climate always feels like summer
All along this eastern shore
Once you stop here for a visit
We know that you’ll come back for more

byĀ Jack Ivey

In A Corner Of The Ship   Leave a comment

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013

Virginia & Outer Banks 2013On The Elizabeth II Sailing Ship — Images by kenne

In a Corner of the Ship

The old
shipĀ 
darkens
his sober face.

Through the open
porthole
he Ā listens
to the sea —

Prelude to
the new.

kenne

Tropical Storm Andrea Tried To Rain On Out Parade   2 comments

Duck Shoreline blogDuck, North Carolina Shoreline — iPhone image by kenne

Based on the forecast, we expected to be inside all day as tropical storm Andrea passed through, but about 11:00 p.m. the rained stopped and the clouds began to break up. This is one image taken on my iPhone to share now. Most of my images are one my D800.

kenne

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