- Title
- Our State
-
-
- Date
- February 2001
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our State
Hits:
(0)
welcome to our state
Carl Goerch Would Be Proud
Bruce Roberts has been one of my
heroes since I was a little drink of
water. When I was growing up in the
1960s. my three brothers, my sister
and I spent hours and hours reading
An Illustrated Guide to Ghosts &
Mysterious Occurrences in the Old
North State, for which Bruce had
provided the photography. 1 marveled at his skill —
unfamiliar with the subtleties of
double exposures and flashes — and
at how he must have waited day in
and day out to capture on film the
Ghost on the Stairs in Fayetteville, the
Devil at the Devil's Tramping Ground
in Chatham County, or. my personal
favorite, Lydia, the Lovely Apparition
at a U.S. Highway 70 underpass near
I iigh Point.
Ioday, Bruce is an award-winning
photographer whose work has
appeared in Time, Life, and Sports
Illustrated. During his 40-plus-ycar
career, he has proved to be amazingly
prolific with diverse abilities. Bruce
got his first camera at age 12 and sold
pictures to neighborhood friends and
newspapers. He sent himself through
New York University on pictures.
“My father tried to talk me out of
photography — he thought I should
be a business executive." Bruce said in
a State interview in 1972. “I’ve gotten
back more than I’ve given. Not in
money, but in the satisfaction of doing
what I wanted to do and what 1 love."
'I he master photographer began his professional
photojournalism career at The Tampa Tribune. Soon,
however, he relocated to Charlotte, where he was a member
of the legendary early 1960s photo staff of The Charlotte
Observer, which pioneered the use of the 35mm camera
and natural light for newspaper photography.
In the 1970s, Bruce joined the staff of Southern laving in
Birmingham, Alabama, where he worked as senior
photographer and director of photography.
By the 1990s, Bruce was back in North Carolina, on the
Outer Banks, where he operated the Lighthouse Gallery &
Gifts in Nags Head with his wife Cheryl. They founded the
Outer Banks Lighthouse Society and were instrumental in
the crusade to relocate the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.
Today, they live in Morehead City.
Also writers, Bruce and Cheryl have written many
books, including Lighthouse families <19 97), Cape
Hatteras: America's Lighthouse (199 9), and Lighthouse
Ghosts (19 99).
For most of his career. Bruce has been known as a
people photographer, so it’s an interesting twist that the
last half dozen or so books he has authored have been
about lighthouses.
“They look different from different
perspectives," he says. “From dark
waters on a stormy night, a lighthouse
is a sign of safety, of knowing where
you arc. From land in bright sunshine,
they crown the headlands in stoic
guardianship."
Bruce’s photographs are in the
permanent collection of the
Smithsonian Institution, and his
photography has appeared in a wide
variety of books, including Where
Time Stood Still: A Portrait of
Appalachia, selected by The New
York Tunes as one of the best
children’s books of 1970. He is a
long-time contributor to these pages,
his byline first appearing in the
1 950s. He has provided cover shots,
lighthouse images, and valuable story
ideas for us.
On behalf of the staff. I’m happy to
announce that Bruce Roberts is the
recipient of Our State magazine’s Carl
Goerch Award for outstanding service
to the state of North Carolina. He was presented a
certificate and contribution to the Outer Banks Lighthouse
Society on January 7 at The Best of Our State at The
Grove Park Inn. We instituted this award in 2001 to
recognize and publicize a North Carolina citizen who has
made significant contributions to the quality of life in our
state — and has been an enduring supporter of Our State.
Bruce is still my hero, and today I’m proud to call him
my friend.
Mary Best Ellis
Editor
6 Our State February 2001
