Monday, March 2, 2015

Down to the Black & White Sea

Having spent so many years photographing the lush and richly saturated colors of the Nova Scotian coastline i find it interesting that i have lately been leaning towards a black & white treatment of the subject. Maybe it's just the time of year. It is certainly more difficult to ignore the pervasive, deeply saturated colors of this place at the height of the summer season. They douse the eye with their brilliance and permeate your retina with their illuminated insistence. This isn't to say that Nova Scotia is a colorless place in winter. Far for it indeed. But it is, perhaps, toned down to the point where form steps out a bit from behind it's gaudy dress and i can put aside my "chromist" tendencies for grayscale and structure.

(Please click on images for enlarged viewing)

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach
©David Sorcher 2015

Technically this is not the sea, but a barachois off Hirtle's Beach. This is a term used to describe a coastal lake that is separated from the ocean by a narrow strip or sand bar. Often at high tide this bar is breached and fresh water mixes with the salty sea. 

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed
©David Sorcher 2015

Hurtles has a greater variety of seaweeds than i have ever seen on any one beach anywhere. I don't know what this one is called, but i love the way i sometimes find it curled up into spiral formations. 

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed; Atlantic Ocean
©David Sorcher 2015

At the right times of tide and season these many varieties of ocean flora gather in large mounds along the shoreline creating breaks for crashing waves. 

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Lobster Trap
©David Sorcher 2015

The surf deposits many other gifts upon the shore. It is not uncommon to find old lobster traps washed up, especially after a good storm. This one came to rest in the grasses that divide the sea from the barachois.  

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed
©David Sorcher 2015

Sometimes this stuff reminds me of old, dried up umbilical cords discarded by the mother of the great briny blue herself.

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Fence; Drumlin Cliff
©David Sorcher 2015

I'm not sure how i feel about this new fence that went up along the edge of one of the sandy beach cliffs. I have photographed this particular cliff many times for is natural beauty, unfettered by the intrusions of man. Certainly it has added some interesting leading line to my composition, but i still must mourn the loss of the unspoiled and pristine landscape just a little. My wife tells me i may feel differently about this in a few years once the elements have added a proper weathering to the wood. She may well be correct about that.  

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed
©David Sorcher 2015

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed; Atlantic Ocean
©David Sorcher 2015

Seaweed, rocks and sand make for nice compositions of textures, form and contrast. 

Nova Scotia; Hirtle's Beach; Rocks; Seaweed; Atlantic Ocean: Surf
©David Sorcher 2015

Waves crash on mounds of seaweed piled as high as a person... active, fierce and alive in the dead of winter. 



No comments:

Post a Comment