Playing in the Backyard

Often I like to scope out new places to shoot. For future reference or that strange occasion when someone doesn’t show up at the appointed time. So it was a couple weeks ago. A little jaunt down to our backyard, Fayetteville, North Carolina yielded a fine sunny day and a few neat shots with the kiddoes and a huge flood of new ideas!

Fayetteville, NC is special. It has the honor of being the anchor for Fort Bragg, the largest Army base in the country. “Airborne!” With this distinction comes much remarkable regalia. Such as the Special Ops Museum, the Veterans Museum and cultural mixing. Just to name a few. There is a rich history that is not only military in nature. From the earliest native peoples to Revolutionary and Civil war events. The Cape Fear River that runs through Fayetteville has always brought life to the city. The military connection started in 1918. Camp Bragg was established. In 1919 Pope Air Field was established. The rich history of this area is one of its many impressive attributes. Fayetteville also encounters many challenges. A very transient population, ie military folks generally PCS every few years, and a generally very youthful population.

Fayetteville makes the most of these challenges and benefits. The downtown area works diligently to involve the community through an active arts scene, including several galleries and a prominent Arts Council. Fayetteville cuisine spans terrific southern fare to new pubs and independent eateries. Many festivals dot the calendar through out the year and Fort Bragg also reaches out to the community with concerts and fairs, especially in the summer months. There is a pretty good variety of things to do… even if sometimes you have to stretch your comfort zone and perhaps ingest a bit of Military history.

We decided to enjoy a bit of time just walking around downtown. We could have spent hours going into shops and galleries (we did sit and have lunch plein air), enjoying horse-drawn trolly rides, fountains and monuments. So much Art Deco Styling to be enjoyed. Seeing the levels of architectural history around each corner. Fayetteville is enjoying a fair bit of gentrification as well. You can see work done on Hay St. - hopefully the Prince Henry Hotel will be the next candidate for renewal-the history on that one is neat too! But I just wanted to check out spots to shoot…. So the kids ran around and I got ideas with the occasional rumble of a C130 overhead. It was a fine day to enjoy a little corner of Fayetteville, NC. When given the opportunity, discover your local spaces and enjoy from a new perspective. As Always, Kyra

The take-away was: make the most of your day, even when that person doesn't show or you have a little spare time.

All shots here were with my trusty 50mm and natural light.