Kirk Pullen Photography - Cape Hatteras Star Trail Video Goes Viral On Facebook

 

I am in a bit of shock that the lighthouse star trail video I posted on my Facebook business page has been viewed by 25,000 + people! Kirk Pullen Photography - Facebook Business Page I have also posted the video in yesterday's blog post. This is my first viral video! I've had a few requests for prints, so I've set up an online store and here is the link if you are interested:STORE LINK

As The World Turns-Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Star Trails

Every summer I get to visit Cape Hatteras where I grew up. I have been taking star trail photos of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse for almost 10 years now. If you don't know what "star trails" are then let me explain it. A camera can take pictures that last as long as you can expose it properly. That can be hours long if necessary. Anyway, this picture is about an hour long. Since the world is turning, the stars travel across the sky from the beginning of the photo until the end of the photo. If you look at the left side of the photo you can see where a meteorite is intersecting the star trails.

Capturing Star Trails at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Every year while visiting my parent's house, I take long exposures of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It can be difficult not to lose the details in the top section of the lighthouse, while photographing it. I recently figured out a technique to help remedy that situation. This is almost an hour long exposure. While the world rotates, the stars travel across the sky and the end result has stars leaving a trail. If you look closely on the left side of the photo, you can see a meteorite trail that intersects the star trails. I missed a few spots with my bug spray and the mosquitoes feasted on my ankles while I stood there taking the shot. I used to get a little worried standing alone in the dark, but I've done it so much that I rarely get spooked anymore. I am working on getting a gallery up if anyone is interested in buying a print of this photo.

National Landmark

Have you ever gone out and taken so many photos that when you get home, you don't get a chance to edit them all? Well that happened to me a few weeks ago. I was browsing through my hard drive of old photos and came across this gem. I had even shot the photo in 5 different exposures to bring out the details in the highlights and shadows. After looking at the metadata I realized that this photo of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is 3 years old.

New Years on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

It was great growing up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina! Beautiful beaches, surfing, fishing and many other things to do. I don't live there anymore but it is really convenient to have 3 family members who still live there. It gives my family several choices when we go for a visit and we have a variety of places to stay. I took this photo of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on New Years Eve in Buxton, North Carolina.

Happy New Year!

I was able to visit my hometown of Buxton, NC for the Christmas holiday last week. As we were driving on the island, I noticed the clouds had a break in them. As soon as we arrived, I dropped my family off at my parents house and rushed to the lighthouse parking lot. It was worth the effort as the sunset was pretty spectacular! I wasn't sure that that including the French Canadian family who was enjoying the view from their car would fit well in the photograph. I ended up liking the way the light glowed on the side of their car, so I ended up keeping it in the shot. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a great place to capture sunsets this time of year because for some reason the sunsets always seem better in the winter. I would like to thank all the clients who used Kirk Pullen Photography for their photography needs! I look forward to working with you again in the coming year and may God bless you!

A photo in Wildlife in NC Magazine 2014 January/February issue.

I was happy to hear from the Wildlife in NC Magazine editor that this picture will be in the current issue of the magazine. Every year Wildlife in NC Magazine holds a photo contest. I was excited to read an email from the editor of the magazine that I received third place for the Recreation category of the contest. It has been a few years since I entered the contest, but this year I decided to spend some time taking pictures of reptiles and any animals I could find. I actually won first place in the bird category back in 2007. This shot is from Thanksgiving of 2012 in Buxton, NC at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The waves were pretty massive and the photographers were out capturing the surfers who were brave enough to tackle the surf. I noticed how golden orange the light was and when I looked back toward the lighthouse I noticed how the people lined up with the lighthouse and decided to capture a few images. This was the result.

My First Viral Picture

I submitted a photo of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse to the VISIT THE OUTER BANKS webpage yesterday. They featured the photo on their Facebook page today and I had 1300 Likes in just 20 minutes. At the time of making this blog post, the count stands at 4300 Likes and almost a 1000 shares. Many people have commented that they would like to have a print of the photo. They are available at my website www.kirkpullenphotography.com. Just ENTER the website, then click on GALLERIES and then click on the gallery called PRINTS 4 SALE. Then just click on the VIEW CART button to select any sizes you may want.

North Carolina Photographer

It is wonderful to be a photographer in North Carolina! We have good weather and great people. I had some friends over last weekend and just went out for a a couple of photos. We took a few photos around downtown Warsaw and then headed back to Kirk Pullen Photography Studio. I had my friend Lindsey pose for a couple photos in the studio to pretend like she was running. I then looked through some photos from this summer when I was in the mountains. I found a cool background picture of a covered bridge and then I combined the two photos in photoshop. This was the result.