A few months ago I took a drive south down the Pacific Coast Highway to photograph Keystone Arch. The plan was to nab some shots of the arch with a bunch of rocks in the foreground. When I arrived everything was underwater. I'm from the Midwest and while we have the Great Lakes we certainly don't have anything like the Pacific Ocean. The water may change a couple of inches due to the prevailing winds but there aren’t tides on Lake Michigan and I hadn’t given them a second thought. Oops.
Nevertheless I had the beach to myself for hours and I set off to capture the tranquility of the moment despite my temporary setback. I wanted to express how peaceful it felt to be standing out there alone for hours and thought that a long exposure might do the trick.
The good news was that I had arrived at the peak point of the high tide. I simply had to wait and watch the waters slowly recede. Slowly the submerged rocks revealed themselves and I made the shot I had originally intended.
In the end this was a serendipitous accident which allowed me to capture a pretty cool scene in two distinct ways and all it took was a little patience.
Still, the next time I’m near the ocean I’ll be sure to check the tide charts.
Rocky Shore
14mm f/8 1/13 seconds ISO 50