It’s kind of surprising that despite all the time I spent along the North Carolina coast, until this spring, I’d only been to the beaches south of Ocracoke once for a wedding years ago. When the invite arrived for a group of photography friends to gather in Wilmington, I jumped at the chance to spend a few days on the beaches south of my favorite place in the world.

We arrived just in time for a trip over to Figure Eight Island. A private barrier island accessed by a guarded bridge over the Intercoastal waterway, Figure Eight was quiet and sleepy on this spring day.

The shores of Figure Eight are similar to my beloved beaches on Hatteras Island with familiar sights and sounds of dune fences, shells, and shorebirds.

We spent time wandering the beach, each photographer following the pull of their camera to choose what to photograph.

As the light dipped lower in the sky, we made our way to the marsh side of the island to watch a hazy sunset over the Intercoastal Waterway.