Ebb Tide, Ona Beach, Oregon
This past summer was very productive. I had many opportunities to photograph and not a lot of time to process the images. Here it is the middle of September and I am still working on files that were shot several months ago. I just processed this image last night, and as I was reviewing my files, wondered how I missed this on the first round of editing. The shapes, the reflections, the storm moving in, it all seems to work together.
The first time I went to Ona Beach I got all set up, camera on the tripod, composed and then came the downpour, before I even got off an exposure. I had never seen a storm move in so fast as that one did. So I went back the next day. It was incredible. The stones on the beach, carved by the water as it came and went with the tide, were dotted with pockets of water left by the receding tide, surrounded by mossy growth unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was really cool. The light was low and soft, as the sun was covered with light clouds. It had been raining but was starting to break up. I couldn’t have asked for a better day at the beach. And this beach, I could go back to over and over and never tire of it.
The calm after a storm as the clouds lighten and the sun begins to break through, the smell of fresh, clean air and the soft light, these are feelings that I like to show and have the viewer feel in my landscape photographs. If I feel them, I can create them. It is all about photographing from the heart. If I am constantly thinking about the technique to be used, then I will fail to capture a feeling or emotion. I must know the technical aspects of the process intuitively. It must be a part of me, then, and only then will I begin to create images with meaning. Many photographers think that it is all about technique, when really it is all about feeling. I must feel the image first, then I can create it.
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