Playing in the fresh water surf

Reflecting the last of the day's sun
Grand Bend, ON
July 2021
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I spend entirely too much time playing in the water.

And by “playing in the water,” I mean standing in some lake or ocean or river, where the waves lap up against the shore, feeling the water wash over my ankles as I take random pictures of the action. The hope is at least one photo will be good enough to have made the entire silly exercise worthwhile.

As you might imagine, there isn’t a whole lot of planning. Which, I think, is why I enjoy it so much.

Because as the chaotic water world froths around me, I’m not thinking about anything else. It’s just me, water, wind, and a camera. I can feel the sand and stones on my feet, hear the screaming birds somewhere behind me, see the fleeting, shifting reflections of the sun off the roiled surface of the water.

It’s as close to a meditative state as a photographer can get.

Out here, I’m connected to nothing except my imagination. If anyone’s pinging me in email or SMS or Messenger or Teams, it’ll wait. Whatever thoughts and worries I may have carried into the water are long since forgotten as I focus in on the seemingly simple - but really not - world of collapsing waves and rogue reflections.

Because when you’re trying to paint pictures of forces that would rather remain intangible, there isn’t a whole lot of room for distraction.

On reflection, maybe my problem isn’t that I’m spending too much time playing in the water. Maybe I’m not spending enough.

I’ll have to work on that.

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