The Sea, a Mobile Phone, and few Good Photos

“The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too”

The sea is always on the move. I don’t know much about the seas, but in reading I’ve discovered that it is a volatile thing. It is deep, translucent, then dark, the sea is merciless with human life.

It is raw nature.

I think most of us admit to the fascination that the sea has on us, how it mesmerizes, entices, if cold or warm, dark or deep, we feel the need to let its waves fold around us that we can feel its nature.

I stood on land battling the wind. A storm coming in from the sea, gusting at 40–60 miles an hour. I had to lean in deeply to stay on my feet.

I’d forgotten my camera bag. My trusty Canon 5D tucked away warmly at the house.

So, I took out my mobile phone, just to see if it might be up to the job of taking a half decent photo. It surprised me.

Above, the Bournemouth Pavillion. A sandy beach that hits the eyes like a desert landscape. I don’t know why the sand was such a deep ochre, it could’ve been damp, or maybe it’s always like that.

In England, people have used the beaches for holidays and days out for the family since the early 1800s. The south coast of England gained popularity for having a few sandy beaches which were easier on the bare soles of feet.

It wasn’t easy to stand still and upright in the wind. So I did what I could, and steadied the base of my mobile phone on the railings to get this shot. A couple venturing out towards the shore. The sun was behind the clouds, but certainly shone through and created a flowing river of light across the rough white caps.

I couldn’t resist walking along the pier. In spite of the powerful wind that threatened to rip my mobile phone out of my hand, I leaned over the railings, and took several shots of the rough waves.

It’s fascinating to watch the sea, the ebb and flow of a mass of dark water, the thought of what lurks below, and the waves that roll in from the deeper waters. At sea, it was stormy, along the coastline it was white caps, and windy enough to blow you down unless you leaned hard into the blow.

I’m slightly impressed with the mobile phone results; a Galaxy J5, 16 MP. It also saddens me a little, that with all my photographic equipment on the shelf, the lenses, tripods, camera bodies, and so on, a bloody mobile phone does a good enough job to create a pleasing, but small image, that is on par with some cameras.

Nevertheless, it was fun to be in the wind, and hear the sound of the sea as it crashed into the pier.

Thanks for reading, love to hear from you in the comments. More sea photos when I return to my Berlin desk, where I can post process on equipment that is bigger and better than a mobile phone.