My June 2024 Photo of the Month is WND415, another photograph taken at San Diego’s Windansea Beach.
WND415 Background
June was a very quiet month. Much of the month was spent parenting and with family. For my BSA friends, I did make it briefly out to Philmont, but it was a short stay without dramatic weather for good photographs.
In search of something for the month of June, I made it out to Windansea Beach. June can be very cloudy (June Gloom) or the Summer doldrums can kick in, which is when my photographic ennui sets in. This particular beach always offers something to be creative.
I have done a lot of color photography here, so I thought about focusing this time on a good monochrome image. I find the best time for this is when the marine layer is just starting to burn off. Then, you end up with the contrast from white prevailing clouds, with the dark blues coming in.
This transition happens every day during the June and October seasons, and can be a reliable go-to for imagery. The other choice was to decide on a proper exposure time. I tend to lean towards a long exposure making the water peaceful and flat. I generally only do short exposure times at the beach when we have dramatic waves coming in.
For this, I backed off my instincts a little bit. I gave the exposure a few seconds to run, to give some of the waves some shape, but also didn’t go with an “instant” image with calm surf coming in.
This isn’t my favorite of my Windansea images, but in a month with a lot of non-photography going on, I was glad that Windansea is always there and always picturesque.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the image.
Further Viewing
Photos of the Month Portfolio Archive
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T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.