Hirtle's Beach

One reality of the way I live and work is that there is only so much time for art; it is necessary to put food on the table and a roof over our heads, and as a result, a good portion of my time and resources must go to the simple act of earning money. Thus, when I do have time to make art, I must always select a subject, and invariably, when they are available, the various models whom I work with win the contest.

8"x10" film

The logic behind this is that while a landscape or architectural space will be present the next day or week or year, the model may not, so I invariably choose to work with model over other subjects, when the choice is possible (about the only exception to this would be when I am traveling, in which case architecture often takes on a higher priority then my figure work, which I can always continue to pursue back at home). It is frustrating to have to select one subject over another, when I hunger after pursuing all the images I wish to make, but such is life.

8"x10" film

The only time that this frustration fades is during those periods when I am focusing solely upon photography (what other people call vacations, or in other cases, unpaid-leave). This day was one of them, and when it dawned grey and cold, rather then try to find a model to work with indoors, I thought I would head to the coast, and simply work with what I could find.

8"x10" film

The beach we headed for was one I'd never been on before, but which was the favourite of a good friend, Jeff Amos. Being as familiar as I am with Jeff's vision of the place, I thought it would be interesting to see how the beach appeared through my lenses. The results were very interesting; while the beach certainly is the same in both our work, it is a very different place for me. Everything I saw was either sweeping wide vistas, or the small details of the sand and seaweed. Once I have a chance to print up my favourite of the dozen images I made, it will be interesting to see what Jeff thinks of my take on his beloved beach (this is only fair, as in 2001, Jeff spent some time photographing Cassandra, while she was working with me on the Nova Scotia portfolio).