"A Dream Approaches"...a new release from D."Bodhi" Smith

This is my newest composition entitled, "A Dream Approaches." It was captured on Coronado Island in San Diego this past Friday May 15th during an extremely high tide event right at sunset.

Unfortunately, this scene needs many factors to align: a high tide of 6 plus feet is a must, clouds coming in off the Pacific, and both have to happen at sunset. A tide of this magnitude happens only a few times a year, and I was lucky this time that it was occurring as a Pacific storm was hitting us here in Southern California, which is rare for the month of May. Thus, my alignment was possible, and I had a widow of about three days to get lucky with a capture...and of course, I was at this spot all three days.

I have had this picture in my mind for close to 9 months now, but had to wait through numerous occasions of getting washed out with no luck because one of the factors was not present. And ironically I LITERALLY got washed out during my first attempt in the 3-day window of opportunity that was given me from mother nature. For as the night before I captured this image, I fought that strong Pacific storm in a torrential downpour hoping the clouds would break at sunset, but there was no such luck and all that happened for me and my dog was that we got on heck of a natural shower, absolutely soaked, even drenched through my rainwear because of the veracity of the wind and rain.

But as you can see, the next night was much more kind for me and I caught this image. And consequently I managed to get another great shot on the third night that maybe someday I will process and put out there.

Anyway, this image is dedicated to the Annets (Jean-Luc and Julie) for their patience with me in trying to catch this scene for them...

The title is derived from one of Salvador Dali's paintings similarly named "The Approaching Dream"...since his surrealist influence is very strong in my photographic visions.

Camera Settings: ISO-100, f/8 at 45mm for 915 seconds using 2 Lee Proglass Filters (3.0ND and a 1.6ND) to drop the exposure 16 stops... this is two 15 minute exposures composited into one image using Photoshop CS6, which creates a perfect square for the final composition. The sun was setting about 45 degrees opposite of the reef and not directly over top of it as I wanted. So one long exposure is for the sunset and one long exposure is for the rock reef.

I hope this message and image find you well.

Peace,
D. " Bodhi "

#Nikon #D800 #Nikkor #Dolica #tripods #Lee #Filters #Big #stopper #LongExposure #BodhiSmith #Impressionist #expressionist #Sunset #SanDiego #Coronado #Island #reflections #reef #Beach #Seascape #California #Pacific #Ocean

Newer image, Entitled "The Greeters" by D. "Bodhi" Smith

My newest composition here is entitled "The Greeters." This was captured during my recent trip to the south island of New Zealand in March/early April, 2015.

After my plane landed in Christchurch and I gathered my luggage and got my rental car, it took me a bit to get acclimated to the left-side road driving and opposite instruments and controls in the car. But soon after I was headed down the left side of the highway towards the south parts of New Zealand. My first stop was to be the Moeraki Boulders on the coast but was unable to capture anything because of a massive rain system hanging over the area that was also dropping many lightning bolts onto the beach...so I relegated this spot for capturing later (images to come of these soon) and drove to the city where I was staying for the next couple of nights, Dunedin, for sunset...

Pictured here is the old pier on St. Clair beach located just south of Dunedin, New Zealand. On this evening there was a fairly low tide, so I got right down into the middle of the old pier posts to take this one amidst the waves. I liked the way the red illumination from the sunset was just creeping into the right side of the image and glowing off the pier posts and the wet beach sand. There was no way to get the setting sun into the frame because at dusk its aspect was behind some quite large hills that are just west of this beach, so I decided to center the island just off the coast between the pier posts. The island was named "Ponuiahine" by the indigenous Moāri which oddly means "The Girl's Great Night"...the local English name is much less original, it is named "White Island" because of the island's appearance from all of the white bird droppings that have built up the island over the centuries.

This is the actual first image I took during my recent trip to New Zealand. So the title of the image comes from the fact that this composition "greeted" me to the beauties of New Zealand combined with the way the pier posts look to have faces on them (at the top) and are all lined up like ushers greeting people as they come off the ocean and "walk down the aisle" of these greeters onto the beach and then into Dunedin...

I hope this image and message find you well.

Camera Settings: ISO-100, 24mm at f/11 for 381 seconds using one Lee Proglass 3.0ND Filter (10 stops) for the longer exposure and on Lee .75ND Grad (2.5 stops) to balance the brighter sky with the foreground...image was captured at 7:30pm as the sun was setting (off camera about 90° to my position)...

peace,
D. "Bodhi"

‪#‎New‬ ‪#‎Zealand‬ ‪#‎South‬ ‪#‎Island‬ ‪#‎Moari‬ ‪#‎Dunedin‬ ‪#‎SaintClair‬ ‪#‎Dolica‬‪#‎Tripods‬ ‪#‎Lee‬ ‪#‎Filters‬ ‪#‎BigStopper‬ ‪#‎ND‬ ‪#‎LongExposure‬ ‪#‎LE‬ ‪#‎Nikon‬‪#‎D800‬ ‪#‎Nikkor‬ ‪#‎24mm‬ ‪#‎f1‬.4 ‪#‎Seascape‬ ‪#‎Pier‬ ‪#‎Ruins‬ ‪#‎Beach‬ ‪#‎Ocean‬‪#‎Waves‬ ‪#‎Landscape‬ ‪#‎Sunset‬ ‪#‎Dusk‬ ‪#‎Reflection‬

"Eternal Denizens" an image by D. "Bodhi" Smith

Image entitled, "Eternal Denizens"...Since, I am headed off halfway around the globe to the south island of New Zealand tonight for the next 10 days (Woo-Hoo!), and in Dunedin, NZ there is a pier formation similar to this, and one of which I hope to capture an impression this upcoming Sunday or Monday evening...

As a result of this trip, It might be a bit before I release any photos here on FB...So in the meantime, I thought I would re-post this photo here along with the one below...as both images are amazingly similar two compositions I will be seeking in South New Zealand over the next week and a half.

Btw, this is an image I captured in Naples, Florida back in August of 2014...it is one of my own personal favorite images (to me, a classic representation of my style) and appears on the back of many of my business cards

Camera settings: ISO-100, 16mm at f/8 for 180 seconds using 15 stops of ND filters (Lee Proglass Filters - 3.0ND filter a.k.a.Lee Big Stopper, .9ND, and .6ND) to bring down the bright light facing directly into the sun (albeit overcast) since this image was captured about 1.5 hours before sunset - I also used one Lee .75ND Graduated Filter (resin) to bring down the brighter sky 2.5 stops to better balance it with the blue waters and pylons.

I hope this message and image finds you well.

Peace,
D. " Bodhi "

‪#LeeFilters‬ ‪#Dolica #Tripods‬ #LeeFilters ‪#Nikon‬ ‪#D800‬ ‪#Nikkor‬ #Bodhi #Smith‬ ‪#LongExposure‬ ‪#expressionist‬ ‪‪#Surreal‬ ‪#Impressionist #Naples ‪#Florida‬ ‪#Gulf #Coast #Pier #Ruins #Sunset

New release, named "Daylight" by D."Bodhi" Smith

This is another new release entitled, "Daylight." This was also taken a couple days ago when I took my photography class on the field trip to the Oceanside Pier. It is named for the fact it was captured during the day and it is a light post.

I did not have much time to take many images because I was enlightening my students on how to follow the light and positioning, plus having them all seeking out good compositions using specific applicable concepts from the Elements of Art and Principles of Design (rule of thirds, leading lines, using negative space to name a couple). But during a couple instances I would shoot some exposures and have some of my students mirror/shadow me to help them better visualize good compositions through their own camera eyes--this image is one of those instances.

For this image I was demonstrating to my students that less is better sometime when shooting landscape photography--I was hoping to instill the idea of minimalism in their minds for this trip and for the future. I do believe one or two of my students were able to capture this scene beautifully and those images will represent them well at the San Diego County fair competition again this year...

For the time we were there in Oceanside, I could not have asked for better lighting conditions for my students to capture all of the seascapes around them on this morning--it was hazy cloudy which created diffused soft light with limited shadows.

For me, this is my style of photography as I love the simplicity of minimalism and use it as often as I can in my compositions...however, this composition found me changing my technique a bit again so I could model for my students how to capture this scene with the available equipment and lighting conditions (they do not have access to all of the ND filters that I regularly use with my long exposures). The result is that this is a very short exposure for me, but I like the results, and even better, I was able to use this as a good learning experience for my students.

Camera settings: ISO-50, f/2.8 at 24mm for 1/2500sec using NO filters again, captured at 8:45am on the Oceanside Pier.

I hope this message and image find you well.

peace,
D. "Bodhi"

New release, "Stare Gaze" from D. "Bodhi" Smith

New release entitled "Stare Gaze"...the eyes of this pelican totally caught my eye--and of course, what followed was a staring contest that ended with him winning and me taking this image.

I took my students on a field trip to shoot the Oceanside Pier and the beach yesterday and was crazy busy helping them all look for compositions and practice good techniques, but I was able to get a few brief moments to myself and capture this image you see before you here...and of course, I had a couple of my better students mirror me with this composition and take their own versions at the same time as me as well.

Btw, this image is WAY outside of my comfort zone, as I seldom shoot wildlife, let alone birds--so I hope I do not embarrass those "birders" out there who know me (you know who you are, so I will not drop names ;) ). But I hope everyone likes this image and appreciates my efforts to step away from my normal photographic style with this composition...

I hope this image and message find you well.

Camera settings: ISO-50, 24mm at f/2.8 for 1/1500 and no filters. Image captured at 9:00am about halfway out the Oceanside Pier in Oceanside, CA

Peace,
D."Bodhi"

Bodhi Smith new release, " Soul to Rest."

This new release is entitled, "Soul to Rest." This composition was taken during a brilliant sunset last month on Coronado Island in San Diego, CA. I took this shot a couple days before departing for Easter Island. I chose to release it now as I did not want it to get lost in my archives once I started processing out all of my Easter Island compositions over the next couple of weeks.

This was one of those rare times where I feel my photography came up inadequately short with capturing the true essence of the awesome beauty I saw with my own eyes on that particular winter evening over the Pacific Ocean...I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of color in the sky on that night and just could not do it justice with my camera.

Some of you know that a few months ago I had been commissioned by a husband and wife to create a special composition of a particular spot on Coronado Island that holds special meaning for them. This couple has entrusted me with the task of creating the new centerpiece of their beautiful home on top of the hills in De Luz, CA...I will not disappoint them.

However, many weather related things have to align for me to fulfill the vision I have in my mind's eye for creating the perfect impression to capture for them with my style of photography. On Coronado Island, I need a fiery sunset full of colors, and to get this bold display of hues, I need the tail end of a Pacific storm to be exiting right before sunset...plus, this spectacular sunset has to happen during an extremely high tide so the waters reach the spot they want me to immortalize--the spot is located quite far up on Coronado Beach close to the Hotel Del and I predict a tide of at least 5.5-6ft is needed for the water level to reach it.

Unfortunately right now, the high tides are happening at sunrise, and the low tides are happening during the sunsets. It is going to be a few months before the high tides flip back and start aligning with sunsets. This is another example of the never ending patience needed in photography. I need my clients to have that same patience as well...

So in a showing of good faith that I am shooting this location, the image here is the second stellar composition (the other one is named "The Promise" from back in October 2014) that I have now captured close to the spot they want. Almost all of the weather needs aligned here for this picture except one--this was taken during an extremely low tide event and I am positioned several hundred feet out at the extreme end of the rock reef waste deep in the incoming waters. However, like the first image (which also had all of the elements present save one--it was captured during a sunrise not a sunset), this newest one again shows the great promise of something better to come in the future.

This composition gets its name from another of my play on words with a dual meaning. "Sol" is the Spanish word for sun and is pronounced the same as "Soul." The soul of this image is the sun (sol), and it is setting to take its rest for the night. However, the inspiration for this title is a little bit more somber: a well know soul here in Temecula named Zeus just passed away on Friday due to unforeseen complications during a surgery, and I wanted to always have something that would remind me of him just a little be extra: Zeus' great soul is at rest.

Camera settings: ISO-100, 44mm at f/8 for 142 seconds (2 mins, 22secs) using one Lee Proglass 3.0ND filter to drop the exposure 10 stops and one Lee .75ND Grad filter (resin) to bring the brighter sky down 2.5 stops to balance it with the water in the foreground.

I hope this image and message finds you well on this day of rest.

peace,

D."Bodhi"

"Kihei Kiss" ... Newest release 12-11-14 by Bodhi Smith

Wow, with my shows happening last week and next week I have been very busy, it seems like I have not put anything new out here in a while...but ahoy, despair no more! Here is my newest composition, entitled "Kihei Kiss."

This was the best sunset we saw during our week on Maui, so it is my first release (of many more to come ranging from waterfalls to ruins to sunrises and stars)) from my trip to this beautiful Hawaiian Island. Btw, the image gets its name from the Hawaiian town where it was captured (Kihei - pronounced Key-Hay), along with the fact that the solitary rock in the composition looks like a Hershey Kiss.

This long exposure capture (sort of a "short" one for me recently) was taken with my Nikon D800 using a 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens... Image was captured a few minutes before sunset on the main beach in Kihei while me and the girlfriend enjoyed some local Maui brews together. Really one of the easiest and most relaxing compositions I have taken to date. I truly had to do little to capture this scene other than walk across the street from our condo and just be present on the beach while the sun set. The beer was smooth, the company was phenomenal, and the scenery was exquisite. We were literally in our own little Corona commercial that says "find your beach." Fyi, the two smaller Hawaiian Islands of Kaho'olawe (left) and Lanai (right) can be seen at the edges of the composition.

The only thing really missing from this image was that my muse, The Dude, could not be there with us to share this special and beautiful moment in my life...the Dude does not fly well, but he was extremely well taken care of by the owner of AMC pet services who was house sitting and watching the Dude and our cats for the entire time were were on Maui.

Camera settings: ISO-100, f/8 at 34mm for 111 seconds using one Lee Proglass 3.0ND filter (10 stops overall) and one .75ND Grad filter to bring down the brightness of the sky two and a half stops Image was taken at 5:36pm, about 8 minutes before sunset.

I hope this image and message find you well.

Mahalo and Maluhia,
D."Bodhi"

New release called "Haunting Peace" by D. "Bodhi" Smith

My newest composition, simply entitled "Haunting Peace" because of the two words' dichotomy. One one hand, the effect of the long exposure creating a mist among black and blue tones of the pier just as the sun was setting last night in Oceanside, CA created the strong impression of being eerie or "haunting" (especially with the added effect that ropes in the rafters were moving during this exposure to create ghostly shapes)...but at the same time, it has a tranquil and calming peace with its smooth cool colors...

Last night I was in northern San Diego County running some errands, and I noticed the clouds were starting to roll in as a sort of a gray glaze...I have been after a nice light-diffusing cloud bank for some time mixed with a moderate high tide of 3.5ft-4.5ft. I have had a vision in my mind for a while to capture an image under the Oceanside Pier that is similar to one of my top selling images which I took last February under the Fort Baker Pier in San Francisco. I am from Oceanside, and being its native son, I really wanted to capture an image for me of my personal favorite pier, a pier that I have not shot a lot of recently these days, but have always had in the back of my mind to catch this impression you see here.

Last night the conditions were just as I wanted: A diffusing cloud canopy overhead right at sunset with a mid-high tide of 3.75ft. If the tide would have been too high, I would not have been able to have my tripod in the position I wanted on the sand--I would have been up in the rocks instead; if the tide had been too low, I would not have been able to capture the depth of this "tunnel" of pier posts out to the "door" at 200mm. And if the clouds would not have been present in the manner they were to diffuse the smaller wavelength colors, and at the same time not make things too dark, the blue tones and shadows as you see them here would not have been possible. And if it had not been sunset, the color tones in the "door" at the end of the pier would not have been present and the shadows would have had too much contrast for the camera to capture their details.

As many of you out there know about me, when one of my titles carries the word "Peace" in it, the image was captured selfishly for me, nobody else, and for my piece of mind...if the image happens to sell, then that is just a little bit more icing on the cake for me. I, of course, really like this image and have a strong personal affinity to it with many good memories happening for me in this very spot...

And, as always, It was ultra nice to see a couple of members of the IEPC join me for a very nice sunset last night in Oceanside...

Camera Settings: ISO-100, f/8 at 200m for 4mins, 44sec (284secs) using one Lee ProGlass 3.0ND Filter (10 stops) captured right as the sun was setting here on the westcoast just north of San Diego last evening at 4:45pm.

I hope this composition and message finds you well.

peace,
D. "Bodhi

New Image of Scripps Pier entitled "Idelisa's Sunset"

This image is entitled, " Idelisa's Sunset" This is my newest release of the Scripps Pier in La Jolla, CA. I have taken so many compositions of this pier that I am beginning to think it is like an old girlfriend or something...and every new capture seems to be a new emotion of this favorite pier of mine here in San Diego, CA.
With this image, you can honestly see the influence which the Expressionist/Post-Impressionist Artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries have had on my photography--especially Paul Gauguin.

Anyway, this is a panoramic impression of this scene with very bold colors from a sunset we had hear in Southern California a few nights ago. I honestly think I will never get tied of shooting this pier, I am drawn to it like steel to a magnet...it never lets me down, and I always capture something very different from the previous one...

This composition is created from two images stitched together. I chose to do this to create the panoramic composition without losing any resolution from cropping a single frame down to a panoramic. This method actually permits me to increase my resolution by 75% and give me the ability to print this image huge if a client so wants it to be that way.

Combining two images is not easily done when shooting 3.5 minute exposures. To create the composition, I needed to shoot two landscape orientation images side-by-side, and then blend them together into one long composition. The left side was captured first with the sun setting on the horizon, then the right side was captured directly after. The clouds were moving mostly horizontal (north) which allowed me to keep the sky pretty even even thought the two images were captured three and a half minutes apart. Plus, with the pier being almost in the middle and not moving, I permitted to easily stitch the two images together to create a 1:3 ratio panoramic composition using PhotoMerge in Adobe Photoshop CS6. Had the pier NOT been in the middle of these two long exposures, there would have been no possible way to create a seamless composition as this, or at least not anyway I have figured out yet.

Camera settings: ISO-64, 20mm at f/8 for 213 seconds (3 mins, 33 secs) (both images)

I hope you enjoy this new "emotion" of this pier as seen through my vision, my eyes, and the lens of my camera.

I hope this message and composition find you well.

peace,
D. "Bodhi"

Smooth Sunday Sunrise on Coronado Island: "Promise"

This is a new image entitled "Promise"... like Coronado Island where it was captured, this compositions has its own "Je ne sais quoi" (for those of you not well versed in French, this phrase means: "a quality that is hard to describe")

The image you see here is inspiring on many levels for me personally and hence the composition's title. Some of those are:

1. Sunrises at the beach always promise the start of another beautiful day here in SoCal...and I spent all day this past Sunday roaming the beaches of San Diego County with my dog--just does not get much better than that in my book.
2. This is my first released image taken on Coronado Island (San Diego, CA), so there is definitely a promise of more to come. This image may be the start of something beautiful.
3. A wonderful couple commissioned me about one month ago to create an image for them close to the spot this composition was captured. It is a special place for them on Coronado Island--they met, were engaged, and were married all at the same spot (pretty romantic, eh?). They know that is might take months for all of the conditions to be right for the composition I have envisioned in my mind for them; and on this morning all of the conditions (especially the tide) were not right for what I needed, however, I did manage to capture this marvelously peaceful composition. This showed the couple the promise of this area and gave them a taste of what I will create for them as soon as all the variables align to permit me to do so.
4. Scenes like this make me reaffirm the promise I mad to myself to be in as many spots (such as this) at the right time to be able to share my vision, emotions, and memories as I live my life and walk the path I must follow...

This image was taken on the rocky reef that protects the beach in front of the famous Hotel del Coronado here in San Diego. Coronado Island is one of the many neighborhoods that make up San Diego Metropolis, and this small community definitely has is own "Je ne sais quoi." It has beautiful beaches and a very nice dog beach as well. It is a bit more upscale and has some fine dining and shopping. However, up until recently with my commission, I have never had this location on my radar for my photography. So this image may be the start of something beautiful. :)

What caught my eye at this spot was way the ebb and flow of the waves were mixing the sea water in the small pool in front of me. The way the waves were crashing into the rocks out front, they would lose all of their force and back off into the ocean...but some of the sea water was still managing to just trickle through the cracks between the rocks and rapidly fill in this small pool in front of me and then recede back into the ocean with the waves. It would repeat this cycle in 15 second intervals, so I determined my exposure time should be around 2 minutes. Honestly, I cannot tell you definitively why 2 minutes and 22 secound was the time I selected for this image, and why not select 5mins? 10mins? (but my OCD creates the 2.22 from 142secs). Through my experiences, I just know and feel it with the effects I want to create in the scene before me. Many times, I can actually see the long exposure in my minds eye before I even capture it...

When shooting long exposures as I do, waves crashing into things usually create a misty effect (which you can see evident here). However, it is really difficult to ever get any sort of a  reflection that transcends down into the mist. In this composition, I was able to capture the rocks reflecting in the mist because of the relative calmness of the water in the pool, even though it was all bubbled and constantly moving around from the force of the relentless waves hitting the reef. Combined with the soft morning light, this misty reflection really creates a soothing scene that I really dig...

Camera settings: ISO-64, 24mm at f/14 for 142 seconds (2 mins 22 seconds), captured about 45 mins after the sun had risen under a canopy of morning clouds on Sunday October 26th, 2014.

I hope you enjoy the tranquility of this smooth morning impression...

peace,
D. "Bodhi"

New Adventure and Image Release, "Ambient Lemmings"

This is my new image entitled, "Ambient Lemmings" and was captured this past Sunday morning (October12) just as the sun was rising in Ventura, CA...

It is very difficult to call this place a beach with so many cobbles strewn all over the place, but I guess there is some sand here and there. It is quite the long and laborious hike across these big and small cobblestones to get to this point from the closest parking lot by the county fairgrounds, but is worth the effort in so many ways. 

Saturday night, the girlfriend, me, and the dog all stayed the evening in a hotel by the Ventura pier. I woke up about two hours before sunrise, and me and my trusty muse, The Dude, made our way to this spot, one that I have been scouting for the right conditions for about 6 months now. This composition needs a high tide, and on Sunday morning there was a substantial high tide. And the weather patterns looked good the night before for a little bit of an eddy to hang overhead to provide me with cloud cover, but in dealing with so many fluid conditions at the beach, you just never know sometimes how much the weather (especially the clouds) will cooperate, until the sun rises and the scene is illuminated. Dealing with the weather directly at the coast is like the saying from Forest Gump, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get."  However, on this morning, I lucked out and ma-nature rewarded me and all my efforts with some nice breaks in the marine layer to give the sky in the composition some character and color...and the ambient lighting was absolutely glowing for me.

The waves were BIG on this morning, and the tide was coming in just as I wanted and planned. Surfers were starting to arrive in droves to play on the big waves, so a longer shutter speed was going to be necessary to "erase" them from my captures images. To get this composition, I had to set up right at the line of the high tide where the waves were crashing into the cobbles. I really worked at anchoring my tripod in deep in the cobblestones, taking about 15 minutes of disgruntled bitching and moaning until I finally got it situated right to my satisfaction. So the main reason why I shot with my Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 and 80-200mm f2.8 lenses was so I had the option to change my focal length without having to move my tripod and go though anchoring it in the cobblestones again.

But the waves were large enough to move even the bigger sized cobbles, and many of my long exposure compositions ended up being blurred and ruined because the camera moved ever so slightly during the exposure time resulting from the endless battering of the huge waves on the rocks. The rocks would shift under the pressure from a wave and move and the camera would move a little as well...and jiffy-presto, what you get is a double image in the exposure which creates an ugly blur whose only remedy is the delete button.

And of course, one of the risks of shooting beside the sea when it is rough is getting bitten by the fury of the ocean. About an hour after sunset, I took a direct hit shooting up the beach at 150mm as one extremely huge wave broke right on the shoreline behind me and barrelled over top of me, soaking me and all of my camera setup...which is a pain in the ass to clean-up at the beach because of all the salt and sand in the water. Salt and sand will scratch filters and lenses, especially after it dries. Salt will also cake up buttons and camera controls. I was using four stacked filters and water got in between each of them along with a direct hit to the camera body of my Nikon D800. Not something I like to happen, but unfortunately is inevitable when shooting in the waves so I must always be prepared to handle the situation when it happens.

The Pacific's sea water was very warm this time of year (for us here on the left coast) , but the air was cold and windy. I was really chilled from being damp and cold and could not really accurately clean my equipment the way I need to with my hands shaking so much. The boardshorts I was wearing were doing their job of keeping dampness off of me, but the evil criminal was my salt-water soaked cotton t-shirt...so, I had to discard the shirt and put on the thermalite windbreaker I keep in my camera bag for just this sort of occasion. Aaahhh, warmth again. About 20 minutes later, I did manage to get all of my filters and camera clean so that I could continue shooting some more, but I went through every single dry microfiber cloth I had in my bag.

For those of you worried about the Dude, no worries, for he was safely up the embankment of cobblestones about 8 feet above me out of the reach of the waves where he found a nice flat cozy spot that he could curl up in and chill while I did my artist thing...and in fact, I think he was laughing at me after I got mangled by that one bastard of a big wave.

Back to the actual composition: I really like all of the different colors and shapes of these cobblestones, and the fact they all appear to be headed into the ocean one after another just like lemmings going for a morning swim all lit up exquisitely by the ambient light under the marine layer (hence the title).

Another cool thing in the photo (something that will make more of a noticeable mark when this image is printed large): if you look in the background at the horizon on the left side, you will be able to spot some balanced rock stacks creating various shapes (with the shape of the cross column being the most prominent)...a local homeless man created a small city of these stacks at the far north end of Ventura Beach just beyond the city limits, it is very impressive and worth the look-see if you are in this area anytime over the next couple weeks...I helped the man out with some money for his efforts with the hoped intent that he would use it to get a warm breakfast on this beautiful morning.

Camera settings:  ISO-100, 70mm at f/16 for 222 seconds using one Lee 3.0ND ProGlass filter and one .75ND Soft Grad resin filter to bring down the sky exposure even with the cobbles...

I hope you enjoy my efforts here to capture this nice new seascape image.

peace,

D."Bodhi"