rocks and water

This is a sort of shot that I find so refreshing. Nothing much to it – just rocks and water down at the beach. Could be any beach. I love the tasking of these pictures as much as working with them afterwards. It is really fun to be down there in all the fresh air and movement, being part if it and snapping away. A bit of an obsession with me. A healthy obsession, luckily.

So what do I find appealing in this shot? I like the various colours and the suds of that small wave coming in from top right. I like the little details and the small-scale “landscape”. More and more, however, I am inclined to think that it is not the picture, it is the memory that attracts me. It is not, after all, a master-image. It might even be trivial. So might it be better in black and white, as virtually all the images are in books of pictures by the greats? But, trust me, it isn’t.

Black and white pictures are said to emphasise the drama of the form and shapes of an image. Often, I go to convert my pictures to black and white, then wonder why I am throwing all that colour away, and revert to the colour original. Maybe if the original were in black and white, I would be pleased with it, who knows.

I absolutely love looking through books of pictures made by the greats of photography. They are pretty much all black and white. I want to be like them, but I don’t think I have the ability. This is sad.

So I make do with my colour snaps like the one above – the making of them and looking at them afterwards gives me pleasure and surely that is the important thing?