At one point in time, I owned a condominium on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was my little slice of heaven and I loved going there on weekends. Then came "Hurricane Ivan", which was a direct hit on the small coastal town. My condo was decimated, and I personally spend 6 months doing repairs. New floor, new walls, new everything. On those trips from Tuscaloosa, I would always take at least an hour or two and go do some shooting. I love beach photography and it recharges my creative soul when I do this. On one particular day, I went to this brand new board walk that the state installed. It seems that while making the assessment of the state land after the storm, they discovered a new type of beach mouse. So, to protect the habitat, a walkway was built over it so that people could still get to the beach. I parked my car and was taking my equipment out of the trunk and a man came up to me and said "You are wasting your time, there's nothing to shoot down there..." I politely thanked him for the advice and went anyway.
. This image is what I saw. I can't imagine someone NOT seeing the potential in this scene and was thrilled that I didn't take his advice. I would also say that this is one of my most successful shots and has been reprinted millions of times in various magazines. And prior to working for Popular Photography & Imaging, it won a 2nd place in the "Your best shot" competition. It is actually two shots of the same scene. When I metered it, I realized that even with RAW processing, I could not reproduce the difference in the sky and the ground. So, I quickly shot the ground image and then adjusted exposure for the sky and then merged the two along the horizon in Photoshop. The result though is a literal representation of what was there and the technique I used was only due to the limitations of the equipment I used.
Pixeldawg wrote:
At one point in time, I owned a condominium on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was my little slice of heaven and I loved going there on weekends. Then came "Hurricane Ivan", which was a direct hit on the small coastal town. My condo was decimated, and I personally spend 6 months doing repairs. New floor, new walls, new everything. On those trips from Tuscaloosa, I would always take at least an hour or two and go do some shooting. I love beach photography and it recharges my creative soul when I do this. On one particular day, I went to this brand new board walk that the state installed. It seems that while making the assessment of the state land after the storm, they discovered a new type of beach mouse. So, to protect the habitat, a walkway was built over it so that people could still get to the beach. I parked my car and was taking my equipment out of the trunk and a man came up to me and said "You are wasting your time, there's nothing to shoot down there..." I politely thanked him for the advice and went anyway.
. This image is what I saw. I can't imagine someone NOT seeing the potential in this scene and was thrilled that I didn't take his advice. I would also say that this is one of my most successful shots and has been reprinted millions of times in various magazines. And prior to working for Popular Photography & Imaging, it won a 2nd place in the "Your best shot" competition. It is actually two shots of the same scene. When I metered it, I realized that even with RAW processing, I could not reproduce the difference in the sky and the ground. So, I quickly shot the ground image and then adjusted exposure for the sky and then merged the two along the horizon in Photoshop. The result though is a literal representation of what was there and the technique I used was only due to the limitations of the equipment I used.
At one point in time, I owned a condominium on the... (
show quote)
Great capture, Pixeldawg.
That's just stunning!
Jen
There is always something to shoot, everywhere. Just need to look and then see the image. Great work
Keep 'em coming Pixeldawg. I am not only enjoying your wonderful photography but the stories are just as good.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.