Though photography has been a hobby of mine for over 20 years, I lost interest in it when film photography was making the slow transition to digital. Film photography could be a very expensive hobby, especially with the type of high resolution slide film that I liked to use most. I purchased my first digital camera around 2005, after Hurricane Katrina. In my daily travels along the Coast from Waveland to Ocean Springs, I found myself becoming very drawn to the damaged coast line and the remnant pilings, piers, and harbors, many of which remain in a damaged state to this day. One of the elements of a good photograph is depth. We are all familiar with the beauty of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is one thing to see a beautiful sunrise, a building thunderstorm, or a huge, cloud-filled sky, but capturing that beauty in a photo isn't always easy, especially when the only thing between the photographer and the sky is sand and water. Plenty of beauty, but not much depth. The viewer needs to somehow be drawn into the photo. These old piers and pilings are perfect for achieving this. So I began photographing them. Alot. Thus began my
serious re-entry into photography. Here are a few examples. The first panaramic photo won first place in 2012 Art in the Pass.
The idea for this blog post (my first one) came from a photograph that I captured a few weeks ago. I consider it to be one of my better ones, and it will likely be one of the first I offer as a limited edition print. But I have several versions and I need to decide which is best. Hurricane Isaac deposited several trees and stumps along the coast line. I spotted this one a few months back and have been trying to figure out a way to get a photo of it. I needed several things to come together before I could get the shot -- low tide, calm water, and a nice sunrise. Problem.... low tide just never quite got low enough. So I ended up having to use hip waders to get the shot. I am thankful for insulated neoprene. It was in the upper 30's when I captured this photos.
There are, of course, many other ways to achieve depth in a photo, and I didn't cover the technical aspects... aperture, depth of field, lens selection. I will try to cover some of these topics in future posts.
Jason
Thank you for your insights and images. My early years were spent on the coast of MS but I left when I was 19. Your photographer makes me yearn to put my feet in the sand, hear the waves, smell the salt hair and watch the flight of the terns. (and crave a shrimp po-boy or gumbo! My hobby is taking pictures (of my grandchildren) and I appreciate this post about trying different ways to stand.
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