There’s a photography show at the Duck Town Hall now through October that’s really worth checking out. Local photographer George Wood’s Stories Illuminated is an extraordinary journey that combines the natural history of the Outer Banks with the impact of mankind.
Wood is an interesting guy. One of the most respected coastal environmental engineers on the Outer Banks by profession, over the past 10 years he has increasingly seen photography as a way to help people understand the world around them.
And that’s really what he’s doing with this show.
The first few images suggest a time that predates the first human footstep on the Outer Banks. The pictures are of nature in its many moods—a beautiful if muted sunrise; the power and beauty of a nighttime storm over Roanoke Sound; and “The beaches are moving,” an image of the stumps of a long submerged maritime forest on the beach of Carova. The picture tells the geological story of the migration of the Outer Banks with just that one image.
But there is so much more to the show. Wood is a master at editing his pictures to create a mood or suggest a different time and place.
There are photos of the Corolla Wild Horses, but two of them are in black and white. One of them creates the sense of a picture from 80 or 90 years ago. The other is of two stallions battling it out on the beach, that the stark shadows of the black and white make it all that much more real.
Interestingly though, there is a very spiritual side to the exhibit.
There is a wonderful image called “Faith” that is the Wright Brother Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. It’s in black and white, yet unmistakably behind the monument is the radiance of the sun.
And there is a wonderfully detailed picture of the Portsmouth Village chapel—the village long deserted and now preserved by the National Park Service.
Stories Illuminated is a show well worth taking 30 minutes or so to see. It’s free and the Duck Town Hall is open from 9-4:30 p.m.Monday through Friday.
The Outer Banks is filled with surprising things to see and do. Spend some time with us at Brindley Beach Vacations and discover the hidden life on a sandbar.