By Matt de Simone
The beauty of Buchanan can be realized every day through the eye of the beholder. One eye who continues to capture the town’s thrilling and magnificent scenery is landscape photographer and Buchanan resident Tricia Louque.
This international award-winning photographer snaps photos of the best scenes in Buchanan from the lush mountain ranges to the soothing countryside views. Louque has spent the last five years exploring the town’s lovely landscapes trying to find the next fascinating frame.
Louque began to find a real interest in photography once she moved to Buchanan and experienced the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. She already enjoyed taking photos, but Buchanan is partly responsible for her business, Tricia Louque Photography.
“I’m a graphic designer by trade,” Louque said. “I always had an artistic side but watching sunsets and sunrises from the parkway, I was like, ‘Yeah, I need to tell a story about this.’”
One example is the Arnold Valley Overlook, which is a short drive from Buchanan along the Blue Ridge Parkway. There, one may see the Allegheny Mountains in its full splendor.
“Basically, (at the Overlook) you can see forever,” she explained. “It’s ridge, after ridge, after ridge from the parkway. It’s just amazing and it’s overlooking the Buchanan area.”
A favorite local event of Louque’s is the Beaver Dam Sunflower Festival. She, along with many visitors that travel far and wide, look forward to the week where photo opportunities are aplenty.
Louque enjoys donating her time providing photos to local nonprofit organizations like Sirens & Salutes and New Freedom Farm in Lithia. She also takes commissions from anyone who wants a photo of specific landscapes. She explained that sometimes a client wants a photo of a specific location. From there, Louque takes her equipment to said location, snaps away, and prints it for the client’s enjoyment.
Preparation is key for this Buchanan photographer. Along with her camera, she brings a “wide array” of lenses and an idea in her head of what she’s capturing.
“If it’s (a type of landscape photo) I’ve never taken before, I always do my research first to make sure I bring the right equipment with me to make sure I have a visual in my mind. A photo, you don’t just walk into and snap a picture. You go into it with a vision and you try to achieve that vision or tell a story through that vision. So, making sure you have wide-angle lenses, zoom lenses, prime lenses, whatever it is– each one does something a little different.”
Louque believes that landscapes photos are about “painting with light.” She constantly observes shadows and solar flares in her landscape photography. She utilizes focal points, finds depth which Buchanan isn’t certainly not short on, and draws people into her images.
“I think one of the amazing things about our area is that there is so much depth,” she continued. “It’s not like flat lands where you look at the same thing for miles and miles. Everywhere you look, no matter if you’re standing in one spot and you turn 30 degrees each way, it’s a little bit different of a visual experience. And I just think that’s a phenomenal, amazing thing.”
Some of Louque’s favorite work includes her photos from the annual Sunflower Festival, navigating before sunrise to find the right spot to meet the new day, as well as town landmarks like the Swinging Bridge. She also enjoys the moment of being the only one to experience a beautiful Buchanan sunrise.
“I like to go to the Sunflower Festival for sunrise shoots when there’s no one else in the field,” she explained. “I go at dark and navigate with my flashlight and get set up. That’s just an incredible experience. Being out there hiking to spot like Sharp Top Mountain, get up there, and photograph that and be the only person out there. It’s just an amazing feeling and I think that’s why people come to our area and visit. They want to experience those things in addition to our local attractions.”
Louque appreciates the quaintness of Buchanan, enjoys photographing its many sights and sounds, and appreciates the feedback she gets from citizens via social media or while she’s working who enjoy her art.
“The things that stick out for me the most are the individual messages that I receive from people,” Louque said. “One lady, who was recently widowed, said she looks forward to my photos as an uplifting part of her day. That really touched me. Messages from people saying they used to live here and they miss Buchanan so much and the photos bring them joy to see their home. Or, watching people connect with other people that they didn’t even know but lived around them because they both commented on a social media. Being able to convey a feeling to someone else through your work and make their lives a little brighter, a little bit richer, that’s the magic of photography. It’s why I do it.”
For more from Tricia Louque Photography, visit tricia-louque.pixels.com.
To see this and other stories and information about the Town of Buchanan, be sure to read the 2024-25 Buchanan Area Guidebook included with next week’s edition of The Fincastle Herald.
