I was so lucky with the weather to get this photo. In Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, right near Frisco Pier, I’ve learned to wait for good images. They’re always worth it. On this day, the wind was blowing the tops off of the wave crests and the tide was going out, which created a waveless but stormy space between the beach and the cresting waves. The clouds hung very low, moving out to sea. The raw power of nature in the OBX can be felt…and if you wait long enough, captured on film to be revisited again and again. (With a little luck, that is.)

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, is one of my favorite places to photograph. I have been shooting photos in the Outer Banks (OBX) for more than 25 years. Diamond Shoals during a storm is magical because of the unbelievable power of confluence of the Labrador and Florida Currents. Surfers and sports fishermen are lured there by the intensity of the waves and the diversity of the fish. And scuba divers are drawn there to explore the many, many shipwrecks that rest on Hatteras’ sea floor.

With a busy life it is so easy to rush past what we teach our kids each day. I love the moments when we catch ourselves having as much fun as they are.

This was a blue sky, but chilly August day on the east coast. The waves were changing the direction of light every few seconds and the offshore breeze created rainbows in the sun as the waves broke.

I thought I wanted to learn to surf but what I ended up doing out there in the surf was what I love most, shooting photographs…which for me is like catching the ultimate ride.

This is Emerson’s first trip to Cape Hatteras and her first experience in the ocean. Soon she shall have a surfboard and a waterproof digital camera.

I have been photographing at Cape Hatteras for over 20 years. The rejuvenation factor there is huge…for me AND the pups.

Spending can get away from you when you are carefree and somebody else is paying the bill. I am very thankful for what I have when I see how the rest of the world lives…