Like many others, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time at home over the past six months. And whilst stores and activities are starting to reopen, there’s still a very long way to go before we reach normality. In fact, I hear that “this is the new normal”, time and time again. I respectfully disagree. I realise that things will be different for some time to come. However, I remain hopeful that we’ll return to the old normal in the future.
I’ve really missed the Great Outdoors – the fresh air, the colours, the sounds and the people, and so I took a short trip to the beach today: my first time since lockdown. I’d made a conscious decision to capture at least one view whilst there.
I’ve visited, and photographed, Aberdeen’s beach front many times in the past, and so I didn’t expect to see anything new or exciting on this occasion.
Perhaps it was as a result of experiencing a visual detox during the quarantine, but I spotted a lovely scene whilst viewing one of the groynes (near to the Beach Ballroom), that I’d never considered before, comprising three horizontal stripes: the land, the sea, and the sky. I decided to capture it as a long exposure in order to tame the clouds and sea.
The resulting image feels calming to me, and I’m very pleased with it. I might even consider printing it at some point.
