Tag: beach

Path of Light

Photography has been and hopefully remain as much about playing and experimenting. One of such fun things is to introduce an artificial light sources in a landscape. The official term for it is “light painting” but for me it is just playing with flashlights, imagining what a landscape can be, and then getting a surprising result.

Like in this photo that I took at the Second Beach in Olympic National Park just after sunset, when it was dark enough for a long exposure and dark enough for a flash light (actually 3 flashlights) to make a difference.

Path of Light
Path of Light

Misty Morning

The first morning in Shelter Cove was filled with fog. And it was the kind of morning fog when the air is still and quiet. It was moving, swirling, raising and falling back to Earth breaking into myriad of due drops.

We chased the fog around but it was tough to find a good view point to get a good photos of Shelter Cove in fog. Eventually we found one:

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After that we dived into the fog and went to Black Beach:

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Change

"When you’re finished changing, you’re finished." – Ben Franklin

I’ve sent a photo that I posted in my previous post Stormy Sky to one photo community up for discussion. I’ve got a few interesting points that I need to think about. There was one common thread though all the feedback that it was not my style, that my style was more artsy images.

It was flattering that people saw style in my images. At the same time it showed that having style may box you in because people expect certain style of the images.

For me trying something new is what keeps me moving. And for those who like my artsy style here is a panorama that I made recently at Rialto beach in Olympic National Park:

Rialto. After Storm
Rialto. After Storm

Stormy Sky

Do you wait for sunny weather, clear skies? I’m waiting for a storm. Lately I’ve been fascinated with stormy skies. There is some wild unruly power in them, something that makes me appreciate the Nature and its rejection of a human will over it.

Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park
Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park

This photo was taken on a rainy, cold and windy day when most people stayed home warming up by a fireplace. Not me. I was out there, trying to capture a beauty of elements.

Do What You Like

Rialto

On one of my trips to the ocean shores of Olympic peninsula at Ruby beach I met an old man who was photographing too. He was very energetic and open. We started talking.

It turned out that he was a professional photographer for many year. His story was both bitter and inspiring. As a professional photographer he spent most of the time photographing things he was not interested in. He did not even mention over our whole conversation what it was.

It was a year since he retired and he finally could start photographing for himself, the things he loved the most – landscapes. He was already on a year long journey, traveling from place to place, capturing the beauty of the Nature. He was finally happy. He drew his energy from the times he was young amateur photographer, open to what the world presented to him.

While I have never been a professional photographer I think I understand him. Just probably as with any other profession once money gets into a picture we start making compromises, that may lead us to completely forgetting why we started doing what we liked in the first place. With my photography I’d prefer photographing what I like and be happy in the process. That’s the place I want to be true to myself.