Sometimes I think my blood is part seawater, which is a strange statement coming from someone born in Detroit. Typically the closest we get to salt would be salt & vinegar chips or the salt mines underneath the city that help with icy roads. But with each and every visit to the ocean, and especially when I started diving, it activates something.
While I’ve frequented the salt & vinegar chips more than visits to the sea lately, I still feel that connection when working on older images. This older image of mine was from a trip to the California coast back in 2002. A trip I don’t have a ton of memories about other than what I have photographs of, and other than picking up Lyme’s Disease from a tick bite while exploring the area around Point Lobos Reserve. Fun times!
I was using film back then, so the never-before-published featured image in this post was exposed on Fuji Provia F 35 mm slide film using a Nikon F5 and 105mm macro lens. Despite many trips to the ocean in various places besides California, I don’t have many tide pool photographs in my Lightroom catalog. But this older film image of mine was cross-referenced in my database to a slide catalog page “TP-1” – so I knew I at least started a slide page of tide pool photos.
Wondering if I had any photographs there worthy of digitizing and forgot about, I went to my file cabinet and looked up page TP-1. There I found just 7 slides consisting of alternative compositions of this image, and some attempts at closer views, which sucked.
I suppose I answered my own question about why I don’t have more in Lightroom.
LOL Yep I’m a bit inland of the salty sea so I gravitate to the salt and vinegar chips, also. I will say this is lovely image and to think it was done with film. ? I do not have tide pools in my database so maybe I need to make a trip to the ocean.
I am curious which one of us may be closer to our respective coasts.
It’s a lovely image. Love the colors. Film…quite a while ago. Definite bummer about the Lyme.
Thanks, Howard. As they say – even to film – thanks for the memories? 🙂
Wow. The constant subtle movement is very difficult to deal with even with digital cameras — I can’t really imagine how hard it must have been with a film camera to make this photo. It looks fantastic!
As for the salt water… well, we all came from the ocean at some point, I think. Then we moved into the trees, after a while. Then we roamed the Earth. I guess that’s why the great outdoors, forests and the ocean all have this archaic/ancestral draw on us…
I know what you mean – especially with anemone tentacles. Plus, I don’t remember how I handled the reflections. I know polarizers do some, but even photographing in ponds around here, if you don’t have a dark background behind you – you can still see reflections. I am happy with this one though.
Thanks for the reminder of where we came from – good point!
The reflections — right! I’ve been struggling with those too, and nope, the polarizer doesn’t eliminate them entirely. I guess one would have to bring a black “reflector” thing from one of those 5-in-1 disc shaped things. 🙂
It’s a beautiful image, Mark. That color contrast and the way the light plays with the anemone is just perfect.
I am glad the color contrast comes across ok. I made specific adjustments in that regard. Thanks Joe for the comment.