Chad Austin builds websites, produces music and manages a marketing company. Today, he is in the middle of building his passion project — a website devoted to Lake Hickory.
The site will allow people to tour the lake from Rhodhiss Dam to Oxford Dam on their computers and phones. “It’s a free web-based resource of all things Lake Hickory,” he said.
“You can ‘fly’ the entire lake and its channels at an altitude of 200 feet,” Austin said. The website, or app, is called LkHky.com and is scheduled to release on Nov. 1.
The project was accomplished using 360-degree images taken by a camera mounted on Austin’s drone. He named the drone “Liane” after his girlfriend. “I wouldn’t be able to do the work that I do if it wasn’t for the work she does at home,” he said.
Austin said there are more than 80 hubs on the tour for people to explore including marinas and unique homes.
People are also reading…
Austin said his interest in computers began in 1981. He said he was inspired and influenced by his father who was a furniture designer.
“He could actually do anything,” he said.
“He was a brilliant man. We always had technology around the house and he would share those things with me. I always liked media whether it’s photography, videography, marketing, art or drawing. With the computer, it always interested me because I could be very precise. Really the only limit was my imagination.”
Austin, 52, was born in Lenoir and moved to Hickory in 1995. He has partnered with the City of Hickory multiple times to help showcase the area through images and video. He said he has filmed and photographed the changes to Hickory and the surrounding area since 2016. Recently, he has worked with Hickory on the City Walk and Riverwalk projects.
“The City of Hickory has also been a blast to work with,” he said.
Austin is also a musician.
Austin said he started playing guitar and keyboard when he was 10. Austin said he is inspired by musicians including the recently departed Eddie Van Halen. “I heard about Van Halen when I was 14 and became obsessed with them,” he said. “At one time, I could play everything that they had put out.”
He is the leader of The Logic Band and performs with friends he’s met over the years. He also runs his own record label. This allows him to pursue another craft, songwriting and producing. Austin said he has met a number of famous musicians including Eric Church and Eric Clapton.
What is the greatest challenge you had to overcome?
Realizing the biggest obstacle in my life has always been myself.
What is the best advice you have received? Who gave the advice?
The best advice I’ve ever received did not come in the form of advice. It came in the form of a reply from my friend David French. When I asked how he was doing, his reply was, “Mildly fantastic.”
I realized after I adopted this awesome phrase that it means “I’m doing great but I always have room for improvement.”
How do you wish to be remembered?
As “mildly fantastic.”