Beach Bummer for the Sloan Family. (A photo illustration for the Independent Weekly)
This week’s cover of the Independent Weekly will feature the Sloan family of Jacksonville, N.C. The cover story is about North Carolina’s bum deal with regard to offshore drilling. Throughout it’s history, the Old North State has said no to numerous lucrative offers by a multitude of oil companies seeking to secure the rights to drill for oil of the coast, unlike, say, our notorious neighbors to the South or Virginia to the North. As the inevitable arrival of oil from the Deep Horizon spill will prove, the best intentions of North Carolina legislators to protect our coastline will not be enough to prevent oil from washing ashore if there is another spill. This unfortunate fate is the result of our position on the eastern seaboard, at the confluence of the Gulf Stream from the South and the Labrador Current coming down from the North.
Which brings us to the more pressing question of how to illustrate a story about something that has not yet happened? My editor and I were discussing some ideas, agreeing that it had to be on a beach, but how do we replicate the look of oil? Then she suggested chocolate syrup, the same thing Alfred Hitchcock used in his films. I called up my dear friend Paddy Sloan, the grumpy dad pictured above, and he was game. For those of you who may not of heard, Paddy is quite the accomplished actor and he ensured that his family would follow suit. They nailed it. In hindsight the “oil slick” could have been a little bigger (never-mind that the rest of the beach is as clean as it can be), but I think their expressions help carry the photo through. With the shoot over, we took some time to clean up the chocolate and wash off in the ocean for awhile. Who knows if we’ll be able to enjoy it again anytime soon?
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what beach?
The beach, man.