Photographer's 'Morning View' project sees Raleigh through a different lens

“I almost always have my camera on me,” he says.

For 18 years, he’s made the trek into the same building with a non-descript exterior that used to host an A&P supermarket. He goes back to retrieve his camera and heads out into the city most days to try and find what others overlook.

It’s that spirit that’s taken him on many interesting journeys.

Regan’s ‘A Morning View’ project is a daily tribute to the colorful, quirky and sometimes discarded and broken-down sights of Raleigh in contrast to the ongoing development in a city on the up-and-up. He posts the photo to his Facebook page on most days and has attracted a following.

Sometimes, there's meaning in the mundane.

“I always thought you needed to be somewhere exotic to be able to take a good picture, like you had to live in a big city or live on an island,” Regan said. “I kind of wanted to prove to myself that I could take a good picture anywhere under any condition.”

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder in the City of Oaks. There’s more buildings, parks and sights to ooh and ahh at these days, but Regan embraces the challenge of seeing what others may miss.

“Maybe it’s something that most people wouldn’t even observe,” he said. “An angle from a one-way street going the opposite direction…odd things, quirky things, [and] things that are out of place.”

Regan’s seen Raleigh transform. He’s reminded of shooting photos of an abandoned lot near downtown Raleigh that was wasn’t really worth anyone’s attention at the time. That site is now Transfer Food Hall, in what’s become a vibrant part of town a couple of blocks away from his studio.

“Anything I see something being torn down, I stop to try and take a picture because if I don’t do it then, tomorrow when I drive by, it’s going to be gone,” Regan said. “It’s kind of a way of preserving a little bit of history.”

Regan said he’s considering turning the project into a coffee-table book as sort of a historical document.

Every photo is an opportunity.

Regan has been blessed with plenty of those in his career. He’s taken photos of presidents and important events in recent memory such as the Jan. 6 riots and, more locally, protests in Raleigh over the death of George Floyd.

Though all those experiences are neat to tell others about, Regan says seeing the people behind the photos is what makes his work important.

"It's the people," he said. "You can photograph all sorts of things, but when it comes down to it, it's meeting interesting people and experiencing life through them."