Elizabeth Loftin's passion for horses began at an early age, as young as two or three.  She was born and raised among the Outer Banks of eastern North Carolina.  As a little girl, she loved spending the weekends with her family.

     It was the week-ends that Ms. Loftin looked forward to, when, "Daddy always found time to take the family, my mom Betty and brother Bryan Jr., to Shackelford for fishing and skiing."  The highlight for her, however, was always the wild ponies.

     Thirty years passed and Ms. Loftin said she never thought of photographing the horses.  They had always been there and she never imagined anything different than freedom and life would come to her friends on the banks.

     In high school, Ms. Loftin's favorite subject was art, and no matter what assignment was handed out by instructor Laura Piner, she said she somehow managed to make her subject a horse.  Whether it was clay molding, graphics or making things with wool and buttons, a horse was always produced.

     "Mrs. Piner was my inspiration to succeed; to somehow turn my passion for horses and art into a profitable living.  She encouraged me endlessly."

     After high school, the artist's focus turned to training horses, although she would carry her art supplies with her endlessly, sketching flowing rivers, fields of harvest and horses grazing on endless pastures.

     "No matter where I was, I would always remember Ms. Laura's belief in me artistically -- telling me to be patient and to believe in myself."

It wasn't until 1995, when the National Park Service began thinning out the wild horses on Shackelford, that Ms. Loftin had the desire to begin capturing their beauty in photographs.

Elizabeth loftin on her pony. "Ginger" was a wild Banker pony from Shackelford Banks, N.C. Elizabeth and her uncle Will Dudley took care of the wild horses and ponies, and gentled them for many other children and horseman to enjoy, either as saddle mounts or cart and harness. From 1963 to 2003 the wild horses have been a "Kindred Spirit" to Ms. Loftin.

     "My mom's mom, Margaret Hill, or 'Mee Maw,' had bought me a Cannon 35 MM camera and I had photographed family and friend's weddings, pets, special events, horse shows, and rodeos.  But when I started photographing the horses on Shackelford the combination of passion for art and horses seemed to flow together like music."

     Everything had come "full-circle" for the artist, photography had become an art.

     "My high school teacher's confidence in me, and her constant words of inspiration and encouragement stayed with me for 30 long years.  Mr. Piner, who is a great artist herself and has a unique style delightfully all her won, both in teaching, personality, and art, is the kind of teacher every parent hopes for their child  to have in school.  I thank God that I was blessed enough to be one of Ms. Piner's students."

     In the near future, Ms. Loftin has set her sights on publishing a book featuring the best of her photography of the wild mustangs on Shackelford Banks, complete with an acknowledgement of those people who wrote letters of concern for the mustangs.  She also intends to complete a series of children's books about her childhood on Shackelford Banks and the down east area -- fishing, floundering, pound netting and other "salty water stories."