The Simple Things

I have an image stuck in my head now for over two years. It will include a very unusual prop that will help bring my concept to life. It has been bugging me ever since to capture it. At first I was a bit puzzled about what location I wanted to use to create this image. Then one day I was at the beach and although the weather was warm, the beach had transformed into a cocoon of mist. Quiet and mysterious. It was so magical and perfect. It was low tide at the time and that revealed a patch of rocks that I knew would make the perfect location.

I was so inspired by the mist and quiet on the beach that day, that I headed out to the beach again the following day hoping to shoot my image. As luck would have it, none of the conditions I experience the day before applied. No mist and it was high tide. Still feeling inspired though, I headed to the dunes hoping to create the image nonetheless.

This is not the image I have stuck in my head. This is its failure.

This image has been in my folders since April 2014. I have come back to it time and time again as it still held a mood I loved. Sure, it was not the image I have stuck in my head, but it had something that spoke to me. Then I started over thinking it. What could I add to the image to create a concept? I started playing with all sorts of compositing tricks, but everything I tried felt contrived. Then the other day I opened the files with a clear head and heart and realised I loved the image as is… it was the simplicity of the image that kept me going back to it and I realised that simplicity was the concept that this image was trying to conveying to me.

In the end, this turned out to be a very simple edit and you can see the various steps it followed during processing in the before & after video…

Even though this image was a “failure” for not delivering the original image I have had stuck in my head for so long, it brought me to the beach that day. I got to enjoy many of the simple things I love about life and ended up staying on the beach until very late. It was the most perfect still hot day that ended with the most glorious warm evening, with an epic sunset. It is also not every day you get to see Ostriches up close grazing on the beach!