Description
Artist notes:
This is the shot that almost didn’t happen. As I approached this location, I could see the clouds setting up nicely for an epic sunset. And the way the light was bouncing off the rocks in the foreground was magical. The problem was that there was a pretty decent sized shore break, so I knew getting the shot was going to be difficult. I was on scene about an hour or two before sunset and had been shooting around for awhile before I found the perfect location.
I wanted to get down close and personal with the rocks in the foreground because I really liked the variety of shapes, sizes and colors. The problem was every time I setup for the shot, a wave would come in and crash on the rocks, shooting water up and over me and my rig. So I knew I had to be quick with the trigger, but I also knew I wanted to keep the shutter open for about a 1 second to get some of the motion of the water.
I shot probably 50 frames and each one of them had water spots on the lens or the motion wasn’t right or something. So I had to dry the lens and try again. Finally, just before the sun disappeared for the evening, I got the shot. A huge wave crashed on the beach right in front of me (I had pulled my camera and tripod away instinctively, and a millisecond after it hit the rocks I got back into position and fired away. The water was receding back to the sea leaving a great trail through the polished rocks as the colors danced over the ocean beyond.
As soon as the camera had finished the image, another wave came in and again trounced the camera. Fortunately, though I did get the above shot at that one perfect moment in time before the light fell away for the evening.
