Upcoming trip to Wilmington, NC - Feb

[david_w.]

Hi,

 

I'm going to Wilmington North Carolina in February and wondered if

anyone here can offer advice on either:

 

1. Places to visit within 4 hour drive (overnight stay) for must-

shoot photography, especially for winter/black & white shooting.

 

2. Must visit camera stores for good selection of used photo gear,

especially Leica.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

--David

[thomas_t]

David:

 

Places to visit: Nags Head, Pine Knolls (any of the Outer Bank Islands are quite beautiful areas for beach environmental shots), Charleston (great food, great architecture, just a beautiful city with tons of history, you did say withing 4 hrs drive ;-)). Personally, I'd take a trip to Charleston and drink in the ambience there, it is worth it. Have fun!

[craig_zeni]

Camera stores: In Wilmington there's Southeastern Camera, which also has stores in Cary

and in Carrboro (about 2-2.5 hours west on I-40. In Raleigh (ditto distance) is Peace

Camera...Southeastern's store in Cary has a pretty good amount of used Leica goodies;

Peace Camera is also pretty fair with used Leica. Both have web pages you can use to get

phone numbers etc. www.peacecamera.com and www.southeasterncamera.com

[bob haight]

Try to take in the sights downtown on the Cape Fear river. Many great places to see and eat in. Southport just to the south on 17 offers alot of great shots. And, of course, you are just 50 miles from the Grand Strand (Myrtle Beach, SC). The camera stores mentioned are fine if you need something but not worth the ride just to browse. The best shots to me are on the secondary roads like NC 421 which offer wonderful shots of fields, farms and rustic barns.

[john_brewton]

Since I live in the Charleston area I'm a bit partial to my home base, however I would recommend Pawleys Island for some interesting homes and a nice beach. The marsh behind the island offers some unique opportunities at sunset. If you don't already know, Pawleys Island is south of Myrtle Beach in SC.

[steve_brantley2]

WWII battleship USS North Carolina, located along the waterfront in downtown Wilmington; Orton Plantation in nearby Brunswick County; wetlands along the Cape Fear River; the Belamy mansion and a few old churches and old homes in downtown Wilmington; Cape Lookout lighthouse; several hundred thousand Canadian snow geese wintering over at Lake Mattamuskeet (near Manteo Island along US 64); and most importantly, Hooters & the Gold Club in Wilmington