Messy brown water

Impressionistic waves
Port Stanley, ON
August 2018
This photo originally shared on Instagram

I'll just come right out and say it: We're pretty avid beach people. Living less than an hour's drive from two Great Lakes - Erie to the south and Huron to the north - makes day trips to the shore an easy family decision.

When we go, Dahlia and I take our cameras, and at one point during the day we go for a wander to see what we can capture. As a parent, I cling tightly to rituals like this one, and count my lucky stars we have kids who appreciate why small-ish experiences like walking the beach with a camera with dad matter as much as they do.

We stood on the pier for a while, talking about the rushing waves for a while, swapping strategies for getting the right kind of composition, the right kind of mood. Looking at this particular frame, I think not so much of the surreal-looking result, but of the conversation that spawned it, and the magic my kid manages to create every time she and I sling the straps over our shoulders and head out.