This past February, as we were bombarded with cold and snow, there was one day in particular that reached 45 and sunny. My first thought was "Go to the beach!" I wasn't going to the beach for a day of sunning and swimming, but for some shooting. It was the first day when one jacket was enough and you could stay outside for over 20 minutes without fear of frostbite.
It started as gray and overcast, with the sun peaking in and out from behind the clouds. I brought my tripod and set up for some abstracts, absolutely loving the way the light was bouncing off the surface of the water! The horizon was dark but the water was sparkling.
Soon the sun went away completely as the cloud cover solidified. But I didn't stop shooting. The new lighting conditions offered a new opportunity for light quality and a softer color palette. I played with the waves, I turned the camera east instead of west, and at the end of the day I had a new set of images with a completely different feel than the rest of my abstract work! No pinks and sunny oranges here, just cool blues and grays. They aren't muddled and sad in comparison to my bright sunset abstracts, rather calm, soft, and just a different option.
It's always a good idea to revisit familiar locations, even if you feel you've photographed them a million times. Different days provide all sorts of new opportunities between changing seasons, changing light, and a changing landscape. Beaches in the winter are drastically different than in the summertime, as winter storms wash away sands and expose new rocks and shoreline. The light quality is different in winter compared to summer as well, often with clearer skies compared to hazy hot summers. And like this day at Green Hill, while I'd been there plenty of other times, this day offered new challenges with gray changing light at midday as opposed to a sunny warm sunset.
Never stop exploring!
See all the shots and more in the Art of the Sea Collection on my website
Leave a comment