After my first successful attempt at this water panning technique, I set my sights on other beaches to try out this new found interest. First up was Green Hill, the southern shore that plays host to so many of my winter seascapes! It was a golden afternoon with broken clouds slowing moving in from the west. I played with the water as the sun sank lower and moved over to some buried driftwood (which might be an entire buries tree) for the closing sunset seascape of the day.
Just a couple days later the swell had picked up as storms moved in, bringing in large surf to Narragansett Beach and other nearby surf spots. There was a light rain but I sat on the seawall of Ocean Road and captured some shots of angry murky waters rumbling towards the beach. I found that if I sat half cross-legged and rested my elbow on my knee I could keep the camera still enough that I didn't need a tripod!
And the day after Thanksgiving I made a third trip out for some water panning. The storm had subsided but some of the surf remained. While surfers enjoyed the sun and swell I perched myself on some rocks at Second Beach in Newport and captured perhaps one of my new favorites, a powerful panoramic of a bluegreen wave sweeping towards shore.
I'm interested to try this technique in even larger surf with different lighting conditions, such as brilliant orange and pink sunsets or golden sunrises. But either way, it's been a very fun technique to play with. And I'm glad I can manage it without a tripod too! One less piece of equipment to lug around.
Stay tuned for more as I'm sure I'll continue with water panning throughout my seascape season! www.catebrownphoto.com for more
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