Australians take great pride in our nation’s many sandy beaches – oft fair in colour, lovely to look at, and a pleasure to walk on.
Metaphorically, we look down our noses at other lands’ generally darker strands, most especially if they are pebbled or rocky.
However, when standing on a pebbly beach, if one literally looks down, chances are that the scene at one’s feet is beautiful.
When looked at, one square metre at a time, it will almost certainly prove much more visually interesting than any square metre of golden or snow-white sand.
This series opens with its oldest photo, taken in July 2010 on a very “high energy” beach on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island.
Birdlings Flat is on/off the southwestern edge of the Banks Peninsula, within easy daytripping distance from Christchurch.
Its agates and quartzes make it a popular spot for “rock hounds” and fossickers for semi-precious stones.
Most of the stones on the beach will actually be the grey sandstone and occasional red cherts of the Mesozoic aged Torlesse Supergroup which is the main basement rock for the South Island.
The italicised quotation is from an informative, illustrated piece on Birdlings Flat by Kate Pedley from the University of Canterbury.
Series Footnote
Generally, for best photographic results, one’s camera should be “spirt level” horizontal, and looking straight ahead…or as close as possible to “plumb line” vertical, looking straight down.
If one’s “target” is a living being, one should – ideally – be looking into its eyes, from a “horizontal line” perspective.
Pointing the camera up/down/sideways will produce (usually, undesirable) distortions and skewed/wonky horizon lines.
One can, of course, “straighten things up” after the photo has been taken, but this will almost inevitably have a very negative effect on the “framing” of the image, and is highly likely to require the sacrifice of elements that one had hoped to include in it.
To every such rule, there are exceptions!
Also, in real life, the “ideal” photographic vantage point is often simply unavailable.
An “aerial view” is often worth considering, even when one’s feet are still on the ground.
None of the “aerial views” in this series is the fruit of a “plumb line-perfect” vertical perspective – aircraft generally lack perfectly transparent floors!
And a standing or crouching human often needs to stay out of the way of his/her feet or shadow..or avoid standing too close to a potentially-lethal edge.
This series’ images were taken over the last 15 years, on four continents and various islands.
Looks like a great series coming up, knowing the quality of your work and subject choice.