Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

July 24, 2008 issue


Crafter’s Profile: Rachael Salmon Shares Photographs and Joy at Farmer’s Market


“The [Watauga County] Farmers’ Market is my home. It’s my family,” said Rachael Salmon. “The whole place is like a community that’s filled with love. There is not a booth that doesn’t have people who make you feel good.”

At the market, Salmon sells her nature photographs, and her favorite scenes include the Blue Ridge Parkway, Price Lake, the Linville River and Linville Gorge. She gravitates to images that are saturated with the brilliant colors that light up sunrises, flowers and skies.

“I’m very selective and work at combining just the right natural images,” explained Salmon. “My latest and most popular ones have been ones with plenty of color like the Buddha.” Before taking the photographs, she carefully places the Buddha against bark and leaves with orchid and alstromeria petals spilling over the statue. The flowers are some of her favorite pink, rose, yellow gold and lilac shades and were recycled from the trash at Earth Fare where she works.

“The flowers went bad and I threw them on the statue. I’m a big believer in reduce, reuse, recycle. Now the flowers in the photographs can belong to everyone and they will never die,” she said.

Salmon grew up in Boone and has been selling at the market for five years, beginning just a couple of years after her mother bought her a camera for Christmas. She loved taking nature photographs right away and made calendars for gifts the next year.

“All my relatives said how amazing it was and that I should do more. I started selling my photographs while I worked at Glenbridge and every year I’ve done it I think I’ve gotten better and better. Last year I got a Canon rebel digital DSLR and that has made everything better. I’m definitely learning as I go,” she said.
Salmon’s work is filled with joy, but her life has included difficulties. Her warm smile includes braces and she has had many operations for her bilateral cleft palate. Her sisters moved away from the area and her mother died in a car accident. “I want my work to show that I am still very, very positive. I believe in the law of attraction and love, so you get what you put out there. My mom was very artistic and she encouraged me so much.

“On Mom’s birthday I took pictures of all of the [autumn] colors that were on the forest floor. It was like the forest was on the ground instead of in the trees. You almost feel like you can jump into it and be there,” she said.

Salmon is working on doing more close-ups and said she will always work with flowers. Many of her pictures feature a sky saturated with shades of blue against contrasting fall leaves or summer flowers. “I love all the colors of the rainbow and, of course, rainbows. I love it that people see a rainbow or something else beautiful and say they thought of me. I also love, love green. I started wearing green shirts to bring out my eyes and now love it even more.

“When I get the time I always go for walks and take more pictures. If it’s beautiful outside, I am always inspired. The sunset colors and the sky always inspire me.” Many of her walks are with her dogs and she also enjoys collage and tie-dying. Her goals include running her own business and traveling more, including a trip to New Zealand.

“Even though my family is gone I have everything I need right here. The community is my family and everyone in the community has been so supportive of me and my art. Every time I meet a new person, that is another person I can make smile. I look forward to each new person and each new photograph. Each time I finish I hear my mom say, ‘Oh, Rachael, that’s a good one.’”

Call Salmon at 828-773-7028 for more information about her photographs or see them for sale at Bald Guy Brew, Four Seasons Decor, Black Bear Books, Tuckers, Green Mother Goods, Beanstalk, The Bead Box, Footsloggers, Earth Fare and the Watauga County Farmers’ Market from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays and Wednesdays. She has notecards, matted photograph and matted and framed photographs from 5 by 7s to 16 by 20s, priced from around $5 to $150. Some of her frames include natural materials—moss, bark, shells and butterflies—that reflect the nature inside the mat.