[natural systems]

dune hummocks (Jockey’s Ridge)

Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Nags Head, North Carolina

The coastal sand dune system within the park is reported to be the largest and highest sand dune system within the eastern United States. Though the park provides a trail system that offers interpretation of the natural systems within the park, most visitors seem fixated on the dunes. What attracted my attention while visiting the park were the hundreds of dune hummocks scattered within the zone between the dunes and the maritime thickets. Dune hummocks are created when windblown sand collects around vegetation resulting over time in sand mounds topped by native plants. For me the dune hummocks represented another form of landscape that can be viewed as objects with small-scale spatial qualities, readable as both figure and ground. In many of my images kite-fliers, hang gliders, and others frolicking along the dune ridge tops are barely visible in the background. This project was undertaken in 2014.