The beach was elemental. That’s what I told Judy – it was elemental out there. Earth, water, fire and air, thrown in a blender, shaken and stirred. There is nothing like a storm in the face – a bit of the old Ride of the Valkries – to get me in touch with senses dulled by too much time in front of a computer. I am drawn to it. Always have been.
In complete truth I was not properly prepared for what I encountered. To cut to the chase about what technical issues came up, I offer the following:
1. Bring a sturdy tripod. No. A bigger one. Make sure it has a hook, and make sure you’ve got LOTS of weight you can pile under it and with cord, cinched down against the tripod’s hook to effectively preload the whole thing into a single mass. Make the whole thing sufficiently heavy and sturdy that you can push against it, hard, without knocking it over. I never did successfully manage camera movement and vibration, especially during the worst bits at the beginning. At best I “minimized” camera shake by draping my body around the tripod as a stabilizing mass; I certainly never eliminated it.
2. Keep the lens under cover until the moment of exposure. When there’s this much stuff blowing out there, a clean lens is problematic. I’m going to be doing some net research on this; within 15 minutes of starting the lens and filters were a mess and I didn’t really have a good way to manage it.
3. Bring waterproof covers for your gear. This at least I was able to do out on the beach. I’m glad I did!
Now, for the story:
Round one went to the elements. During the first set up of the outing I was so physically slammed I never got a shot. It reminded me of a favorite Kurt Vonnegut quote:
“I know what Delilah did to Make Sampson as weak as a kitten. She didn’t have to cut his hair. All she had to do was break his concentration.”
Concentration? Biff! Bam! Pow! I ended up back in the car muttering “Looks like I need a bigger boat.”
With each subsequent attempt I got a bit more focused, and aided by the gradually lessening severity of the conditions ended up with a couple of shots with potential. But it would be an exaggeration to say my technique had been nearly solid enough for that first outing. But what does not kill me strengthens me, etc.
Looking back, the shots started working when I stopped fighting the elements, and went with the flow – worked with it – rather than fought it. In Holiday Beach Crowds the defocused glow really became the subject of the shot rather than a problem to solve, and in one to come, Adventures in Paradise, I started picking up on ‘Beeee the motion blur…’. I will be revisiting these themes in the future.
Leave a Reply