There may be any number of things to first draw my attention to a scene. Sometimes it’s the color. At another time, it may be the lighting. It may be the texture, contrast, or perceived significance of subject (or, likely, some combination of these things).

Specific to this image, it was the motion that first intrigued me. The longer I studied this scene, the more intent I became on making an image to reflect the motion flowing through it. I wanted to capture its raw power and form altering force.

Given that vision, I knew I had to keep my shutter speed fast enough to preserve the power in those thunderous crashes, yet allow for some gentle blur of breakwater over the boulders.

It became an exercise in patience and timing as, again and again, the waves crashed over the landscape. This image became one of more than one hundred images shot from this location.

Although I’ve kept several dozen of those images, this is only one of two that so closely meets my stated objective. Not only does this one capture the power inherent within this moving landscape, it also offers a complementary contrast in texture from foreground to middle ground. And that bit of magic is what earned this image a seat in my portfolio.

Cheers,
-Mike.