A Return Visit... or: Finally a new post!!!

I took advantage of the warm weather this past weekend to make another trip out to my favorite shoreline spot. I wanted to catch a few new photos and re-shoot some scenes from earlier visits. I have yet to bring my 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens out there. This lens is a huge step up from the lens I had previously been using, hence the desire to re-shoot some favorite scenes. To get there it was a 20 minute walk across the sand and seemingly millions of shells straight into the face of a 20-30 mph wind (not to mention the 20 lbs or so of equipment on my back!)...the exertion required to get through that walk more than compensated for the wind chill. I even had to unzip my jacket.

It was nice to spend some alone time with myself and camera. It's a little like escapism in that the only thing I need to worry about is photography. I had originally planned on finding some interesting spots to shoot at sunset, but since time goes by so quickly when I am in my photography world I nearly missed out on capturing any worthwhile sunset photos. The sun had already gone down and light was quickly fading. I packed up my gear and started the trek back to my car when I remembered that there is an excellent piece of driftwood halfway there. I scrambled to get there before the blue hour was over. I hurried, in a near panic, to compose something decent, but couldn't get exactly what I was looking for with the first few attempts. Times like these I need to learn to slow down my mind and remove myself from the race against darkness. Once I started to think clearly, I was able to arrive at my final photograph of the day. I like it very much and hope you do too.

This is a re-shoot of a photo that I had taken a while back. I've learned much about taking photos and processing them since then...and have better equipment now too!! My original of this was in black and white because at the time I lacked the skills to get the colors or lighting "right", so black and white allowed me to hide that. I like the color version much better.

Another re-shoot. Better lens, better technique, better processing = better photo!!

The sink in the women's locker room. The lighting in here is much better than the sink area in the men's locker room which I had previously shot. So this isn't technically a re-shoot. : )

Women's shower stalls. I don't know about you, but they look like institutional shower stalls, not something you'd find in a park on the beach.

A totally new shot!! Yes, someone had put a bed on the enclosed front porch of this cottage which is why the window on the left is very dark on the other side...notice the angle of the sun when I shot this. That's my sunset outside while I am preoccupied with the inside. I should have been setting up outside while I took this. Oh well.

All in all it was a good trip. The driftwood photo made it wholly worthwhile. As is often the case, there is always one photo from a session that if that was the only photo I came away with, I would come away happy.