Reflections of a lifestyle

by Shelley Chamberlin Photography
(Outer Banks, NC)

I was traveling north on Highway 12 through Rodanthe after a photo shoot in Hatteras, and as the sun began to set it lit the sky on fire with glorious color. The key to beautiful sunset shots, in my opinion, is a proliferation of clouds in the west. Not so many that they obscure the sunset itself, but enough that the sun backlights them and sets them aglow. I ran through my head the locations I knew of that would allow me a place to pull off the road and capture some amazing sunset photos. I immediately thought of Chicamocomico Lifesaving station at the north end of Rodanthe. But when I pulled into the parking lot it was closed, and the sky over the ocean was not drawing me like the sky over the sound. So, I pulled back onto the road and noticed a road across from the lifesaving station. After deciding to take a chance, Idrove the short distance to the sound. I was thrilled to see, not only a place to pull over and get out, but several boats tied up, small islands, marshes, crabshacks and stacks and stacks of crabpots. Over the next 45 minutes I grabbed about 100 images. As I drove the rest of the way home, I was excited to see what I got. I was thrilled. I ended up with a couple dozen "Art Print" worthy images. The only thing I would have done differently was to shoot in raw mode. I won't make that mistake ever again!