Beach Treasure

Yesterday was another overcast windy day here at the beach. After doing some things around the house I thought I'd head to OC and make some boardwalk images, (I have this idea to do a bunch of HDR stuff on the boardwalk) but I didn't get any further than Fenwick Island. As I drove down the highway turning my head toward the sea, I kept looking at the beautiful dune crossings, so I pulled into a parking spot and headed to the beach. There were lots of stones on the tide line so I rambled along the shore picking up stones that interested me, stuffing them in my pockets, along the way, eventually to be added to my beach stone and pebble collection. As I wandered I wondered what primal instinct is in us that makes us want to pick up stones? I know I am not the only one......we have had a relationship with stones since the beginning of time...Remember...the Stone Age...Stone Henge...Stone Arrows...all kinds of things stones have been used for over the years...but beach stones...I thought, are just a bunch or rocks like in bags at the store people use in their gardens...so why did they intrigue me so...mom even had a stone she called a worry stone...."With origins in Ancient Greece, worry stones are smooth, polished gemstones in the shape of an oval with a thumb-sized indentation. Held between the index finger and thumb, rubbing them is believed to lessen one's worries".

When I got home I opened up my Beach Stones book and admired the presentation of the images in that book. Josie Iselin the photographer used a scanner to make all the stone images in the book. Gaining some inspiration there, I thought I am going to use the stones I gathered to make some images.

Last night before the rain came I walked out to the beach as I wanted sand for my background and I filled up an empty taffy box with real beach sand. Then I sat and sorted my stones and beach glass I have collected over the years and a few artifacts tossed from the deep to the shore. I began to assemble them in compositions on the kitchen table......OK you are saying this woman has way too much time on her hands!!!!! But really it was fun, playing, whens the last time you played, just to play! Well I went to sleep with the stones and glass all over the kitchen table. After breakfast this morning I emptied the box of sand into a large baking tray and moved it out to the covered porch area, I only had some natural light to work with. I was using my 200 mm macro to make most of the shots and had to stand on a ladder for some of the larger compositions...I switched to my 70-200 for a few more shots. So much for my ramblings, here's a beach stone poem......By Lilian Moore ( I am certain I am not the only one now!)

Beach Stones

When these small
stones
were
in clear pools and
nets of weed

tide-tumbled
teased by spray

they glowed
moonsilver,
glinted sunsparks on
their speckled
skins.

Spilled on the shelf
they were
wet-sand jewels
wave-green
still flecked with
foam.

Now
gray stones
lie
dry and dim.

Why did we bring them home?

---Lilian Moore

Ok thats it for beach for a few days~heading home tonight!