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I have a connection to the beach. Living close to the Atlantic, summers often meant weekend or week long trips to the shore, where we would spend days at the beach and boardwalk. It’s something of an icon of my childhood.
We took other trips too, tropical vacations and Disney World and camping through the southwest. But the beach was an easy escape for us and we found ourselves there a lot.
I took my first picture on the beach, on an old Canon AE-1. I can’t remember how old I was, but I remember the image. Just my parents sitting on a towel, nothing too fancy. But it was the first time in my life that I pushed that shutter button.
It would be easy for me to say that was the moment I fell in love with photography, but it would be a lie. It didn’t start a lifelong obsession or redefine me as a person or anything like that.
All that said, I remember the feeling I got. Honestly, I do. It was a Prometheus feeling. I was doing something that I’d only seen adults do, up to that point. It felt like stealing fire from the gods.
I had that feeling again, this year. Elizabeth and I went to Lewes for a weekend and I took my new 5D Mark III. My intention was to use the time as a crash course in all things 5DMIII. I had to learn the camera quickly, because I was going to shoot a music video with it the following weekend.
The beach is normally a muse for me. This trip, the inn was too. It’s called the Blue Water House and it alone is a reason to visit Lewes. We stayed in the Caye Largo room, which was bright yellow and full of monkeys.
When we packed to leave, it was with confidence. The trip had accomplished everything I wanted. It had restored that feeling of fire – stealing wonder that I first experienced on a beach with an AE-1. This time in a little seaside town, with a camera that’s all mine.
All the images here and on flickr were taken with a 5DMIII.
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