Photographic perspectives on the seashore

• Seashores are incredible places for anyone but especially the would-be natural historian and the photographer – with their abundance of flora, fauna, geology and other objects plus spectacular views, landscapes and seascapes.
• Beaches are a great resource for the budding biologist, ecologist, geologist, fossil-hunter, artist and photographer.

What does the seashore have to offer the amateur photographer?

• The photographer can document the extreme variety and variability of beaches including:
• animals, plants, rocks, fossils, artefacts and constructed features
• changes great and small
• in-situ and still-life
• vistas, macro, creative and artistic perspectives
• alive and kicking/dead and dying
• wet or dry/surface or under-water
• static or moving
• high-tide and low-tide
• any time of day
• sunshine, clouds, rain and snow
• spring, summer, autumn or winter
• natural or man-made objects
• with or without people
• popular or deserted places
• details of design
• colour, texture, abstract and patterns

 From what perspective could you work?

• You can use the photograph to capture the bigger picture or home-in on less easily observed features.
• You can capture a wider, descriptive and a basically superficial view; or you can get up close to help the viewer to see and understand something of the intricacy of the organism, the structure or the interaction of shore-line processes.

 How does all this relate to me?

• All this thinking underpins my own work.
• I have a lifelong interest in natural history – especially littoral or seashore ecology.
• I think that seashores are really inspirational places!
• I try to capture the moment, the beauty, the intriguing feature or phenomenon – to bottle it up for later, to research, to share, to re-live through the images.

 COPYRIGHT JESSICA WINDER 2011

All rights reserved