Local photographer Padre Island Madre’s sunrise photos have created a 100K-member community on social media drawn to her snapshots of island life.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A local photographer known on social media as “Padre Island Madre” is showcasing the charm and natural beauty of Padre Island, and building a social media community of more than 100,000 people who follow her for her daily views.
Many Coastal Bend residents may recognize her photos, even if they don’t know the woman behind the camera.
“I’ve just always had a camera in my hand. I’ve always loved taking pictures, and I always knew I wanted to be a photographer, but I honestly never knew that this is where I was gonna end up,” she said.
Often called ‘Madre,’ she said her passion for photography deepened after she and her family moved to the island four years ago from Amarillo, TX.
“Had a month long beach vacation here and that kind of sold us. We knew we wanted to stay forever,” she said.
Each day at sunrise, she heads outdoors to capture everything from wildlife to fishermen — moments she shares with her growing online audience.
“I wanted a place to post my pictures. And little by little, I started getting more followers and it took me about a year to get to 1000 followers, and then it started growing from there and now we’re almost at year 4 with 105,000 followers,” she said.
Padre Island Madre said she believes relatability is what makes her page resonate with so many.
“Before I moved here I was the person that was on Facebook watching videos of Padre Island and looking at pictures,” she said.
She added that she’s grateful for the community that has formed around her work, and the one that’s embraced her offline on the island.
“I want to be their happy place and bring them the peace that they need, these waves of peace, because that’s all somebody needs sometimes during the day,” she said.
This year, she’s expanding her photography beyond sunrises to showcase the island at different times throughout the day.