Sometimes it takes a while to discover your talents.

George Humphries didn’t pick up a camera until he was 30 years old. He and his wife, both school teachers, were heading out West in 1980 for a summer trip and his wife surprised him by giving him a Nikon FE as a present. When they got out there, Humphries started clicking away.

“Everything was a picture,” he said. “I didn’t know much about what I was doing.”

Fortunately for him, some of the photographs turned out to be real gems. From there, he just started taking more and more pictures - historical places, docks and shrimp boats down on the North Carolina Outer Banks, wilderness areas and the beloved mountains of Western North Carolina where he grew up.
“I like the wild places best,” he said.

Throughout his life, he’d been framing pictures in his mind, but he’d stayed away from cameras because they seemed too technical. But once he got comfortable shooting pictures, all that excitement came pouring out. It was the sheer exhilaration of seeing beautiful things, trying to capture a fleeting moment that will never exist again. He was like a kid in a candy store.

Gradually, his photo collection grew and his photos began appearing in North Carolina Wildlife magazine, in calendars, and in postcards across the state. He published several books including North Carolina: Images of Wildness, A North Carolina Christmas, Along the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina Reflections, and North Carolina Wildflowers. He also began publishing his own line of notecards called “Appalachian Images.”

Though a well respected photographer statewide, he confesses to be more of an intuitive photographer than a technical gizmo lover.

“It’s more from feeling and seeing,” he said. “For me, the less technology, the better.”

As he traveled across the state in search of natural settings and historical places, he found that some ecosystems were dying out - more in the eastern part of the state than in the west. He got involved in environmental awareness and now belongs to several organizations including the board of directors for the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

So when Humphries gives a free nature photography workshop at the Waynesville public library on June 30, he’ll give a slide presentation of some of his earliest photos, display some 4”x5” transparencies on a light table, and then talk about environmental awareness.

Having spent much of his life in the mountains - he was born in Asheville and now teaches history at T.C. Roberson High School and Mars Hill College - he still hears his grandfather’s words echo in his mind - “These mountains were made for livin’ in.”

But with human growth comes a responsibility to protect the natural habitat.

“A lot of people appreciate it, but a lot of people take it for granted,” Humphries said. “To me, all this is a miracle.”

For more information about the free nature photography workshop at the Haywood County Public Library in Waynesville, call: 828.452.5169. Refreshments will be offered at the day-long program, which will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Seating is limited, so reserve your space now.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News