Beach Abstracts - A Landscape Photography Challenge
Lawrence and I had been chatting about getting out for a while. At the end of last week, he messaged me with a proposition: he’d been to a beach a few weeks before and thought it had some good potential for small scenes. He challenged me to a session where we ignored the grand landscape and focussed on what was beneath our feet. This is the sort of challenge that was very much up my street so happily agreed to it. How hard could it be?
Now, I have to be honest. I knew of the beach he was talking about, but having driven past it many times dismissed it as somewhere that didn’t actually appeal to me. Flat expanses of sand and a less than inspiring view (photographically speaking). The day we had chosen was overcast and grey, but we still went. Arriving on the beach, it became quite apparent this was going to be a tough day at the office. There were lots of little rocks covered in barnacles, a few messy sand patterns and some broken shells. All accompanied by some less than inspiring light. I think Lawrence thought I wanted to go home. His optimism was infectious though.
It was one of those days where you just have to switch your brain and creative eye on, and get going. It took me an hour or so of scouring the beach, combined with a few practice shots to start seeing things. As they day headed towards sunset, I found some cleaner parts of the beach and the images started to jump out a bit more. The hour before last light was frenetically spent making images, some of which I am very pleased with. Landscape and nature photography is always a challenge. Especially when it comes to finding new locations to shoot in and also find new and interesting subject matter. A day like this goes to show, that you can make interesting images almost anywhere.
I have posted some galleries of both mine and Lawrence’s images below, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments
Lawrence’s Images
Please take the time to check out Lawrence’s work on his website and social media.