Hi, I’m Roy Edlund, the OBX Beach Bum.

And that pretty lady with her arms wrapped around me is Sandie, my girlfriend of 41years. Without her love and support, I’d just be an old guy on the beach, carrying a couple of cameras and muttering to himself.

Well, if I’m being honest, I guess I am that old guy, but I wouldn’t be as happy.

So, together we are the OBX Beach Bum. And I owe any success as a photographer to her. She keeps the packages flowing and keeps our business going.

We moved to the Outer Banks in 2012. After losing everything in 2008, we struggled a bit until one afternoon we were sitting on the bed and I said to her, “if we’re gonna be poor, let’s be poor at the beach.”

I didn’t come here to be a photographer, in fact, I didn’t really have a plan at all. I spent nearly every day walking on the beach carrying my old canon camera and shooting whatever caught my attention.

I soon realized I was changing, photography was healing me. I was becoming the man I always wanted to be. The pace of my life slowed, inner peace and joyfulness became the new normal.

So I made the decision to keep shooting photos on the beach.

Pretty soon I had too many photos and started posting them online. It wasn’t long after that I took on the persona of the OBX Beach Bum and people began asking to buy prints.

And this new life began and I’m glad you are a part of it.

Love from here. ❤