Beach Humanity

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There is something magical about the beach. Ears filled with the roar of waves, the backbeat of rocks rattling as they tumble against each other in the surf, the distinctive whistles of the sandpipers, and the urgent calls of the seagulls as they oversee the beach. Blues, greens, turquoise, and greys fill my eyes as they mix with the bright white of the foamy waves crashing. And there is the pervasive energy of play…beachside games of catch, pickup jumprope with kelp as the rope, surfers and boogie boarders, swimmers and waders, sand castle builders, mud throwers, walkers, runners, bike riders–I could go on forever!

Summer on the southern California coast teems with humanity. Every square inch of sand seems to be claimed by an umbrella, beach chair, towel or shovel. But I’m reminded that as September arrived, the mornings and nights belong to the locals.

Last night we made an impromptu trip to the beach, arriving in the afterglow of the sunset. The tide was low, bonfires already glowing, exercisers still working up a sweat in the cooler (but not yet chilly) evening temperatures. A light mist had rolled in along the shore, a relief to the record-setting highs we have been experiencing.

I was playing with angles with my camera last night. And noticed this child dragging kelp…I love the way that the beach provides its own toy chest.

You can see the emptiness…and the beauty of the evening beach in this shot of my hubby walking on the slant and reflected in the wet sand.

As we walked back up toward the parking lot, this little girl was attracting a crowd as she lifted bubbles from her bucket. In spite of the darkness, you can still see the colors in the bubble…and the littler children mesmerized as they watched the giant bubble float.

This morning, with forecasted hot weather–even on the coast–and a busy schedule for the day, we headed back to the beach early…arriving shortly after 7am. While the crowds hadn’t arrived yet, there were plenty of people enjoying the beach.

I noticed this man playing with his dog in the surf. The dog joyfully chased the disk and returned it to the man each time he threw it, asking for one more time.

I was even able to catch the dog in action as he ran in my direction, seeming to show me the great catch he had just made!

I noticed this mom playing with her baby in the surf. The baby would kick his feet each time the mom lifted him up and then tipped his toes into the water.

As I walked on I noticed this little boy with two surfboards. As I looked out into the waves I noticed a man (his dad) heading in to collect his board so they could head back out into the waves. The beach is definitely a place for families.

Towards the end of my walk I saw this guy fishing. The water was warm this morning (more than 70 degrees) so the fisherman was comfortable in trunks as he cast his line.

There were others I wasn’t able to document with my lens, but noticed as I walked. Couples walking with their coffee, the cute older couple with matching sun hats, exercise walkers with earbuds, runners staying above the waterline to keep their shoes dry, a father and daughter stretching before heading out with their boards, the older woman in her bikini, tennis shoes, and sun hat out for a walk, someone meditating with crossed legs and fingers touching…

One of my favorites things about the beach and the humanity that inhabits it, is that each person finds his or her own way of interacting with it. You can wear a bathing suit, a wetsuit, shorts, jeans…or even a wedding dress. Shoes are optional and are often seen in pockets, hanging over shoulders, or held in the hand. You can sit, stand, lay, run, walk, jump, dance, catch, throw, search, dig, build, chase…the options are endless.

I have quite a collection of images of #beachpeople this summer as I’ve noticed and studied the humanity I find on the beach. And what I know for sure is that most of them seem to come to the beach for fun, for pleasure, to escape the heat, the stresses of work…it is a place filled with play and playfulness. Adults playing with children, adults playing with other adults…enjoying the water and sand with the joy many often leave behind with childhood.

The beach is a magical place.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

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Do you speak in images? Enjoy taking photos to document your experiences or just to express what you notice in the world? Love to share them with others? Welcome to the weekly photo challenge! I post a new challenge each week…check in regularly and join the fun!

I continue to learn about and be challenged by light as I take pictures. Sometimes the photos I take seem flat, without the detail and texture that I see with my eyes. Just last week when I was walking at the beach in the evening, the sun was just right and I had to snap a photo trying to capture the softness and the glow of the moment (and those sandpipers I am always chasing with my camera). This unedited result was even more amazing than I imagined, capturing the texture of the foamy edge of the wave against the smooth sand.

The light that pours into my dining room in the afternoon lit up the roses in the vase on table. I like that you can see the layers of petals and almost feel the softness through the image–even though the light creates a variegated effect on this solid-colored red rose.

Sometimes it is the breeze that creates the texture in a photo. The Star of India is an old clipper sailing ship that now operates as a museum on the San Diego waterfront. I like the way the sails…and the American flag billow with a roundness you can almost touch.

My macro lens is always good for capturing texture. Getting close makes the textured details more apparent like in this photo of dandelion fluff.

Or this one of the intricacies of cactus spines on the plant in my back yard.

And then there is the visual texture of the pattern worn by this giraffe. His distinctive coloring creates a texture all its own.

And I love the physical texture I can almost feel with my fingers as my students explored this mystery substance last week in a science lab. They were mesmerized by the way it was runny and liquid-like sometimes and hard and powdery other times. I used an app to filter the image that seems to bring attention to the texture of the substance on my student’s hands.

So now it is your turn to find and snap a photo of texture. Will it be something oozy and wet, something soft and furry? Will the light help to define foamy edges or expose the details of layers?

You can post your photo alone or along with some words: commentary, a story, a poem…maybe even a song! I love to study the photographs that others’ take and think about how I can use a technique, an angle, or their inspiration to try something new in my own photography. (I love a great mentor text…or mentor photo, in this case!)

I share my photography and writing on social media. You can find me on Instagram and Twitter using @kd0602. If you share your photos and writing on social media too, please let me know so I can follow and see what you are doing. To help our Weekly Photo community find each other, use the hashtag #texture for this week and include @nwpianthology in your post.

What textures will your lens expose? I can’t wait to see what you find!

Self Portraits, Photo Style

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I experimented with taking self portrait photos today. The #sdawpphotovoices photo-a-day prompt for September 6th is self portrait, which got me thinking about how to be creative in my approach to creating a photo portrait of myself. I’ve done some playing around with self portraiture in the past (here and here) and have been practicing the art of the selfie as a way to document some of the outings my husband and I take. (Otherwise I have discovered that I am absent in my own photography.)

But what does it mean to take a self portrait? And what does it say about me and my photography? As I set out today, I knew that I was not going to be taking the typical hold your phone out at arm’s length and shoot a photo sort of self portrait. Instead, I wanted to focus on ways to capture portraits of myself in less typical ways.

Walking along the waterfront, I noticed a monument to those who have served in the military that had shiny marble sides. I could see my reflection as walked by, so decided to try taking a self portrait by framing myself in the shot.

I like the way the grain of the marble creates a texture on the photo, and you can see how the shade also impacted the image.

Continuing our walk, I noticed a mirror used to help cars see around corners as I went to cross a driveway. I stood and aimed my camera as I framed myself in the mirror.

It’s interesting to me the way the mirror captures the urban elements of the setting, while the background features the branches and leaves of a tree.

As we walked down the Broadway Pier, I noticed the reflective glass of the building there. Along the side of the building I could see the USS Midway, a retired military aircraft carrier, reflected in the window. I urged my husband to join me and capture this self portrait.

Geoff noticed this star on a window of a restaurant as we headed back toward where we had parked our car, so of course I had to stop to snap a photo. The long skinny window makes an interesting frame for the self portrait.

We had talked earlier in our outing about the possibility of me taking a self portrait by framing myself in my husband’s sunglasses. So as we passed the park at Seaport Village we stopped to try this technique. It took a few tries…and we left without knowing for sure if my image would be visible. With a bit of post production editing, this is the resulting image.

Today’s focus on self portrait photography had me paying attention to light, reflection, texture, and composition. I was working not only to capture an image of myself, but also to document my surroundings in interesting ways. Sometimes I noticed that I held my phone in a way that obscured my face so then I experimented with holding it lower and tried to look into the reflective surface rather than at my shutter button.

I did some post production editing to crop away extraneous material and place the focus on the portrait. Filters helped me brighten or tone down colors and create an effect that I found pleasing.

I took many other photos today as I walked the waterfront and explored downtown San Diego, but it was fun to experiment with the self portrait too. Taking photos of myself in reflective surfaces made me aware of the many ways I can use those surfaces to create other kinds of photos as well–things I don’t always think about as I am shooting. I know I’ll be doing some experimenting over the next week or so!

What do you learn when you take photographic self portraits? What techniques are your favorites? I’d love to hear from you!

Food Truck Adventure

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I’m not much of a foodie…and that certainly won’t surprise anyone who knows me. But tonight we decided to have an adventure of sorts…and chase down a food truck. My husband has been following the Pierogi Truck on Twitter, desperately wanting to relive a childhood taste memory of eating pierogis–a Polish dish that his mom made when he was a kid. These dumpling-like creations are not easy to find…and honestly, I haven’t expressed much interest in eating them.

So tonight, with the Pierogi Truck not too far from our neighborhood, we decided to take this taste adventure. Parked in a business park near a brewery, the purple truck was waiting. We walked up and were greeted by the two women who worked the truck and Geoff immediately engaged in a conversation about the Polish foods of his childhood.

So I had my first taste of pierogis tonight, a potato and cheese dumpling served with a sour cream or yogurt sauce on the side. They were pretty tasty…with a beer from from Iron Fist brewery on the side.

Geoff went for the sampler plate with an assortment of Polish delicacies…pierogis and Polish sausage and more.

The food was good and the adventure was better. It was fun to go out and do something out of the ordinary, to wander into a warehouse and sip a cold beer, watch some arm wrestling, pet some dogs, and do a bit of people watching.

And even though pierogis will not likely ever be my favorite food, it was fun to taste them, and to watch my husband savor the flavors he’d been remembering and imagining for so long. It was quite an adventure to head out on a Friday evening in search of a food truck. We’re already talking about other food truck possibilities… Who knows where our next adventure will take us!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Silhouettes

Get Creative! September’s Photo-a-Day Challenge

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September is one of those limbo months. Summer is ending, schools are beginning, we are beginning to get hints of fall. And where I live the weather is warm, often warmer than we have experienced during the “official” summer months, confusing our bodies and senses.

It’s that time of the year when you might find yourself in the creative doldrums as you move from summer vacation mode back into work and family routines. So that means that September is the perfect month for a creativity focused photo-a-day challenge!

This month’s list is meant to encourage experimentation and challenge you to break out of some of those routines that have become uninspiring and maybe a bit monotonous. Each prompt this month asks you to try a specific technique, a particular subject, or to break a rule of photography or try a rule of photography. For example, it’s common as photographers to shoot with the sun over your shoulder to light your subject and ensure that the color is good. But sometimes, it is perfect to shoot into the sun–especially if you want to capture a silhouette like this photo of the lifeguard tower. (And I was lucky enough to snap just as the lifeguard walked into my shot!)

It’s not unusual to take photos of your food, but perhaps it is less usual to try to create a shot that showcases the food as though it is an advertisement. I’m not sure this photo is that quality, but I do love the color of this unedited shot–especially of the mango salsa.

Sometimes it is the difference in positioning yourself or your lens that creates a new way of seeing your subject. You might try shooting from above like in this shot of the subway train in Pasadena. (And you might try going from color to black and white for added effect!)

Or in this case, climbing up a ladder and shooting up in a tight space to capture a glimpse of the light in this lighthouse.

Sometimes I get stuck taking shots of things that stand still. So sometimes the creativity comes from trying to capture action as it happens. Here’s a sandpiper (and his shadow) just as he lifts off!

I’m still experimenting with taking photos of weather…and there isn’t a whole lot of weather to experiment with in my parts. I was excited about seeing this family in their yellow slickers walking toward me on a rainy day in Yellowstone.

And who doesn’t love a photo of flowers? I particularly like this shot where the large poppy in the foreground is crisp and the others are slightly out of focus.

And water is always a source of inspiration for me. I have to work at creating something new and different from my photos of the ocean, but this shot of the top of the waterfall was a novelty for me.

So September’s challenge is to inspire your creativity by pushing yourself to try different subjects, different techniques, different angles and more. And to help you stretch creatively, here are some prompts—one per day—to push you out of your ordinary routines.

1. get low

2. shoot into the sun or create a silhouette (or both!)

3. create a photo that is stunning in black and white

4. shoot something ordinary in a new and interesting way

5. make something ugly look beautiful

6. create a self portrait

7. take a photo of traffic

8. make people your centerpiece (strangers if you dare!)

9. shoot from above

10. use the rule of thirds

11. find a natural frame (a branch, a bridge, or ???)

12. shoot on a angle, what happens if you make it extreme?

13. photograph your pet (or someone else’s)

14. photograph water in a new way

15. capture movement

16. photograph an abstract pattern

17. shoot from an unusual angle

18. what’s interesting about windows?

19. where do you find reflection?

20. make your subject off center

21. capture emotion

22. where do you find texture?

23. take a shot of the weather

24. what’s interest about clouds today?

25. something old

26. something new

27. focus on light

28. flowers

29. take a shot of food–would it work in an advertisement?

30. feet

Once you stretch your creativity and take that shot (or many shots), post a photo each day with the hashtag #sdawpphotovoices to Twitter, Instagram, Flicker, Google+ and/or Facebook (the more the better!), so that we can all enjoy the posts. If you are game for some more playfulness, compose a blog post about a photo, a week’s worth of photos, write a photo essay, make a video or slideshow or try a learning walk! You are invited to create a pingback by linking to this url or post your blog address in the comment section. It’s fun for me to see what others are doing with the same prompts I am using!

So stretch yourself this month and feed those creative urges! You can post every day, once a week, or even sporadically throughout the month…whatever works in your life. You can play this game by posting your pictures in the order of the prompts or post the one you find on the day you find it. You get to make your own rules! Be sure to share and tag your photos with #sdawpphotovoices so we can find them! So go out and get creative! I can’t wait for you to share what you are seeing through your lens!

In Flight and On the Ground: A Photo Dialogue

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I’ve been thinking a lot about reading images and the stories held and told…both with and without words. This week at the Daily Post, the weekly photo challenge is titled Dialogue–with an invitation to post two pictures that open up new meaning when they are in dialogue with each other.

I love this idea of photographs in dialogue and thinking about how the images might speak to each other and the viewer in ways that create new understandings and opportunities for meaning making. I spent time yesterday evening on the beach…the perfect way to cool off and relax after a wonderful and exhausting first week with my students.

I often walk on the beach either in the morning or afternoon when the sun is higher and often more harsh. The evening sun was soft, bringing out reflections and colors that I don’t often photograph. As the day cooled and tide receded, the birds were active–running after tidbits of food, poking long beaks deep into the soft sand. I snapped many shots of sandpipers in action, playing with the light and shadows.

I love the way this sandpiper seems to be walking between the clouds as they reflect on the shoreline, an echo of the sky overhead.

And then as I thought about what other image to pair with the one above I was drawn to this image that I took of a hang glider in the setting sun.

Taken within minutes of each other, each photo tells its own story. Together, what do they say to you? I’d love to know what you hear in the dialogue between the photos.