Capturing the magnetic pull of North Carolina’s Outer Banks
- Text by Niall Flynn
- Photography by David Alan Harvey
![Capturing the magnetic pull of North Carolina’s Outer Banks](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/NN11529164-copy_2023-03-27-104625_xkrt.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Despite a career spent shooting stories all over the world, David Alan Harvey always finds himself being pulled back to his home in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Having first fallen in love with the camera as a 14-year-old, Harvey – a full member of Magnum since 1997 – would spend his days taking pictures from his front porch, never drifting further than a few blocks from his house.
As a teen, his immediate environment was all he really had to photograph. Though he was avidly curious about the rest of the world (a world he’d eventually travel), home was where he’d form his skills – and there was nothing else like it.
“I really am kind of a homebody,” he explains. “In other words, I travel because that’s where the stories are, but I probably wouldn’t be much of a traveller if I were not a photographer!”
Today, he lives just 60 miles north of the home in which he grew up. So, when it came to his part in Magnum’s eponymous project this year, there was only ever going to be one option: David Alan Harvey quite literally stayed at home.
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG18351-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
The subsequent photos – interweaving colourful scenes with black and white shots – depict him and his family among the landscape of the Outer Banks, illustrating the part it plays in each of their lives.
Visible too is the magnetic pull that has always brought David back, demonstrating how the relationships he shares with home is entangled with his life in photography.
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG18354-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
“The luckiest thing in my life is that home has never changed. I’m having the same dreams, hearing the same birds, smelling the same trees that I did when I was a kid.”
“My vision of home has not changed, nor has my vision of photography. I’m able to keep that naive enthusiasm for pictures and photography that whole time. When people ask me, ‘what did you accomplish?’, I’ll say, ‘I managed to keep my enthusiasm. I’ve got the same fire in the belly I always had.”
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG18347-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/NN11529164-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG183501.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG18355-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
![© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/MG18346-copy.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
© David Alan Harvey / Magnum Photos
HOME, a collaboration between Fujifilm and Magnum Photos, runs from 18 – 27 May 2018 at The Vinyl Factory, London.
The photobook can be ordered from the Magnum website.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
![Autism cannot be cured — stop trying](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/shutterstock_2322534063.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Autism cannot be cured — stop trying
A questionable study into the ‘reversal’ of autism does nothing but reinforce damaging stereotypes and harm, argues autistic author Jodie Hare.
Written by: Jodie Hare
![Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Hashem-Shakeri-from-the-series-_Staring-into-the-Abyss_.-%C2%A9-Hashem-Shakeri.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition
After the success of it’s inaugural run, the festival returns this autumn with exhibitions, education and community programmes exploring a world in constant motion through still image.
Written by: Ben Smoke
![Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/web-Eyanna-has-always-been-Maliks-primary-caregiver.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence
New photobook ‘Say Less’ is a complex yet humanising look into a life wrecked by gun violence and organised crime.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/7_ULTRAMAGNETIC-MCS_NYC-1990.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography
A new exhibition brings together Janette Beckman’s visionary and boundary pushing images of an era of cultural change and moral panic.
Written by: Miss Rosen
![In photos: the dogs of Dogtown](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/saguy_dogtown_02_RGB.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
In photos: the dogs of Dogtown
A new photobook documents Venice Beach’s four legged friends and their colourful cast of owners.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![Inside the battle to stop coal](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/DSC00173.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Inside the battle to stop coal
As the legal challenge against Britain’s first deep coal mine in 30 years reaches the High court, we talk to activists at the centre of the fight to stop it.
Written by: Ben Smoke