Bruce Roberts

In 1963 Roberts began to work as a freelance photographer instead of specifically for one newspaper. and Goodliest Land in 1973. Later they wrote books about the supernatural, releasing books such as Ghosts and Specters: Ten Supernatural Stories in 1974 America's Most Haunted Places in 1976, and Southern Ghosts in 1979. Roberts' photographs also appeared in the children's book Where Time Stood Still: A Portrait of Appalachia, which was named by The New York Times as one of the best children's books of 1970.

In 1978 he became the director of photography for Southern Living magazine, a position he held until 1982. and served on its board of directors. Starting in 1997 Roberts, working with Cheryl, published his first book on the historical lighthouses, called Lighthouse Families. In subsequent years the Roberts published further books on lighthouses in and around North Carolina. He would later be awarded "Keeper of the Light" award from the American Lighthouse Foundation as a result of the preservation initiatives he led through the Outer Banks Lighthouse Society. In 2001 Our State magazine awarded Roberts the first ever Carl Goerch Award, named after the magazine's founder. In a 2005 article in Lighthouse Magazine, magazine editor Tim Harrison and the magazine staff declared that Roberts was one of America's all-time best lighthouse photographers, citing his long history of capturing historical lighthouses on film. In 2010 the Outer Banks History Center (OBHC) presented an exhibit of Roberts' photographs entitled "Bruce Roberts, Photojournalist: 50 Years of Capturing Change" that featured photos from throughout his career, primarily focusing on pictures taken in North Carolina.

Personal life From 1958 through the mid-1980s, Bruce Roberts was married to Nancy Roberts, a renowned author. The two met when they both worked for the Charlotte Observer and married in 1958. The couple had a daughter, Nancy, and a son, David, during their marriage. David was born with Down Syndrome. which was chronicled in Bruce and Nancy's book David, published in 1968, describing their experiences with raising a child with Down Syndrome in the 1960s. They divorced in the mid-1980s with both Bruce and Nancy remarrying later on. Bruce Roberts married Cheryl Shelton, now Cheryl Shelton-Roberts, a retired schoolteacher, historian, and prolific researcher of North Carolina lighthouses, keepers’ genealogies, keepers’ families oral histories, lifesaving stations, and shipwrecks.

Roberts died in Newport, North Carolina on June 16, 2023, at the age of 93.