Reading · Visual Journeys: Becoming a Better Photographer

I’m late posting my article, because I just finished co-leading a photo tour along the Oregon coast around Bandon for North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA). Reflecting on this experience, I decided to put together a collection of images I’ve made over the years that are coastal, and thoughts about my journey in photographing the sea/coast.

This is by no means a complete collection. The coast is a place I end up at often, even though I consider myself more a ‘mountain girl’ when it comes to where I might live. Still, the ocean beckons me. Jed and I visit it often in various places. I worked for a few years as a photography instructor/naturalist on board the Lindblad/National Geographic boats in southeast Alaska (the Inside Passage) as well as led photography tours on a small boat in that same area. I am inexplicably drawn to the sea.

Black Abalone and mussel shells amongst beach stones

Many of my images have been ‘documentary’ - showing things for what they were, an intimate or close-up scene that is straightforward. Some reasons for that was submissions to stock agencies, another reason was that I wanted to tell a story, as a naturalist, about the coastal plants, or wildlife, etc.

Silverleaf blooming amidst blue mussel shells.

Scenes like this anemone below ask a question of the viewer. Why is it covered with shell bits? The answers are 1) to block or slow down dehydration from the sun, 2) for some camouflage. (from the Monterey Bay Aquarium A-Z). Who knew? They also disgorge hard bits that they can’t digest…

An aggregating anemone with exterior decoration.

A beach ‘garden’ with barnacle-covered stone.

A different type of ‘garden’. Sea stars and anemones hang tight on tidal rocks until the next high tide refreshes them.

During all the time I spend photographing, the background ‘music’ is the ocean waves - rhythmic, sometimes pounding, sometimes calm. There are infinite negative ions bouncing all around me, making me feel very positive! The sound of the sea sets the tone for my creative play.

Over time, I was drawn to abstracts and impressions of the sea and the beach and how light and water interacted with it.

I’ve also become intrigued with slowing the sea down. Slowing the water movement down creates an ethereal, mysterious feeling, one that expresses my own feelings about the sea.