Eakin Howard is a 10th generation descendant of William Howard, last colonial owner of Ocracoke Island. His grandfather founded and still owns Village Craftsmen on Howard Street. Although he was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, he has spent lots of time on Ocracoke visiting family and selling Ocracoke license plate birdhouses (now sold at Village Craftsmen). He also makes the brass key rings found at Village Craftsmen.
He has been surrounded by the arts his whole life. Photography in particular has always been important in his family; His maternal grandfather is a photographer and his mother has a degree in art with a concentration in photography.
Eakin is a photojournalism student at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a specific interest in sports photography. He shoots sports for RIT SportsZone, RIT’s sports information department. In November of 2017, he was selected by the World Curling Federation to photograph the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2017 in St. Gallen, Switzerland as part of a Sports Media Trainee Program.
Eakin contributes photos to Ocracoke Navigator and prints of many of them are available for purchase on his website.