Photographer's Notes:
This image has a lot of God's hand in it for me personally. On the morning I went to capture it, I had been sitting for about ninety minutes by myself at the lookout with my camera strategically placed ready to shoot the second the sun crest the mountains of the Linville Wilderness. That's when a gentleman came along to enjoy the sunrise and started to casually chat with me. In our conversation, we discovered we were from the same hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio; what were the odds.
But following that conversation, I couldn't help but start to think about my hometown hundreds of miles away and the people there. In particular, my mind wandered back to one of my best friends, Scony (Marcus Pierson), who had been my morning show partner when I used to work at 98.3 The BULL. I had chatted with him a few days before but got cut off due to bad cell reception. I thought, "I'll give him a call tonight and catch up."
Sadly, I never got the chance because when I arrived home I received the call that he had gone home to be with God. It was later when a mutual friend of ours pointed out how God was trying to tell me my friend was going home. From the beautiful sunrise, I was able to witness, to the conversation with a stranger from my hometown all alone along the Blue Ridge Parkway. What were the chances that I would meet someone from my small hometown hundreds of miles away at that very spot the morning that my friend was called home.
That is why I named this image "Homecoming". I'll see you again Scony.