It was the coldest day and evening of the latest arctic blast of January 2014, the same that brought almost a foot of snow and temperatures of 0 degrees Fahrenheit to our hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. My husband and I decided to visit our beach here in southeast Florida before dinner bundled in our doubled-up shirts and sweaters. Now, the last time we were below freezing in Palm Beach County was 3 years ago, and it certainly wasn't the kind of bone chilling cold we used to experience up north. Never the less, I was chilled standing on our beach in the 65 degree Fahrenheit winds gusting out of the north, northeast last week. Surfers, some in bikinis were just coming into shore with their boards, and they assured us that the water was very warm.
I had recently decided that I should see my iPhone as capable of taking pictures that anyone might consider Art, rather than just iPhone curiosities - probably because I hate those ubiquitous arms-length self portraits in the social media. I’m sure most of those will someday be considered early Twenty-first Century trash art - not kitsch, just junk that is beyond redemption.
With the goal of obtaining an "artistic," pretty photo of the beach and waves, I shot one picture after another as the sun sunk lower and lower behind us. All the photos in the series show cumulous clouds hanging-out low in the sky, over the Gulfstream less than 3 miles off shore. Long shadows from the palms and buildings behind us fall across the beach and onto the water, and these, the deep green hue of the water, and extreme contrast of the image indicate the winter season. The images are not as detailed and crystalline as might be those taken with an expensive 15 or 20 megapixel camera, but the elements mentioned above, and that single bird, blurred from speed, diving between surf and sand in the lower right section of the picture combine to present the grandeur and slightly abandoned feeling of a chilled and mostly deserted winter beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment