Kent Barnes is originally from Kewanee, Illinois. He has made his home in Black Mountain since the mid 80’s. Born and raised in farm country, the mountains have been a special place for him.

 He served some time in the Peace Corps and then four years in the US Coast Guard. His travels took him from Oklahoma to Alabama and finally to Falmouth, Massachusetts, where he settled for 20 years. He served there as a full time firefighter and started his own burglar/fire alarm business.

After 12 years he sold his business, left the Fire Department  and entered the corporate world as a corporate security executive. After three years of flying to various cities and many flights to Miami, he decided that it was time for a change and more family time. He and his family moved to Hickory, North Carolina. After three years in Hickory they moved to Black Mountain. He has worked various management jobs while living there and went back to the fire service as a volunteer firefighter with the Black Mountain Fire Department.

 Being surrounded by the mountains and the beautiful scenery invoked memories of high school days and the principles learned in the photography club there. Leaning on the old principles combined with the new technology of digital photography he decided to capture some of the things he saw and to share it with others. The result is a collection of mountain scenery and nature pictures mostly from the Black Mountain area.

 He has put those pictures into a collection on this web site for those not fortunate enough to experience our mountains in person.