Lapping at Heels
This cyclist had been taking phone-photos with a friend and I suppose she wanted to make sure they were okay before leaving. I wouldn’t stand in here with my back to the waves. Look how wet the whole surface is.
The pictures below are the ones I took first from a bit further away and thought I was done – then this shot was presented to me. Even with the sound of waves and the white noise of rolling beach pebbles she still looked up when the Mamiya shutter and power winder went off. Taking a picture sounds like a passing train compared to most other cameras I have used.
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Mamiya M645 Super, 80mm/f2.8 lens, ISO400, Ilford Delta 400 Pro.
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burnt embers 
When someone sees you taking their picture, do you feel like you have to explain?
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Hi Erin – sometimes, but only if I am quite close to them, or if they ask. Mostly, they can’t be sure I was taking their picture and if nothing is said, then the dialogue is not opened! When shooting with a small point and shoot like the Olympus XAs that I always carry in my pocket, then they usually don’t notice.
However, if it is expressly a picture of someone where they might be recognisable then I usually will ask, and an explanation seems a necessary part of asking. I tried taking street candids for a while, but I never felt comfortable doing it (not to mention wasting a lot of film), so I have decided I will try asking instead. Spontaneity is lost, so it is necessarily a different kind of photography, but one where good pictures can still be made, once I learn how.
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Good to see the storm drain with a human being to give it scale. She looks as if she’s meditating. Fine shot.
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Thanks Val. Modern meditation often seems to come in the form of contemplating a small screen. It is such a beautiful spot and yet it is necessary to turn her back on it and look at the small picture that was just taken rather than the real thing. Humans are very strange things.
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I like the feeling of solitude in the first photo. Exceptional!
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Thank Ken! This is one of those shots that called out to be taken – just a few seconds of opportunity. I am very glad I was ready for it.
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the first one is brilliant… kinda surreal with the waves getting closer and that pier disappearing into the sea… her reflection in the concrete makes it all so perfect…
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Thanks Alexandra! That pier has the very mundane task of encasing a drain that takes storm water from the roofs and roads and out to the sea – it is quite a drop into the ocean at low tide. I doubt the engineers envisioned its other attractions – people walk on it all the time, and photograph it often too (click my storm drain tag to see what I mean).
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thank you so much for directing me to the storm drain tag… 🙂 amazing series…
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And thank you for looking at them. It is getting to be quite a long series. A very compelling place for me. I keep on finding it in a different mood; pretty much every time I go past there is a different scene.
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The main photo is somehow very powerful. Without your explanation you could imagine all manner of stories for this. And I wouldn’t have stood there either!
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Hi Mike, I was only going to post the main photo, but then the urge overtook to show the others which really were not useable in any other context. I was so pleased to get the top one after the other two, it was one of those photos that I knew right away was going to be a keeper.
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