Sometimes the way we grow in life and art is by experimenting. Taking risk. Putting a part of ourselves out there that we normally wouldn't feel comfortable with. Will it be received well? Will it fail? Does it matter?
For me, the question always becomes, "Do I love it?" And the answer with this shot was a resounding yes.
I was at Crystal Cove State Park, CA, where I grew up, and the sky was filled with smoke from nearby wildfires. The temperatures were in the mid-90s with no wind and everything felt different. So, I went with that feeling and started experimenting with long exposure and intentional camera movement focused on the sun. The smoke had turned the sun a beautiful bright pink color and as it set on the horizon, I started moving my camera to create a line across the sky with the sun. It took several attempts, but I captured the image I had imagined. The pink was brilliant and I chose to saturate this photo to bring out more color in the water and sand to match the sun. It felt very other-worldly to me, yet calming and soothing. As if I had entered some sort of transcendental realm.
Learn. Grow. Have fun. Fail. Experiment. Repeat. That is what this photo is about for me.
The original collector of this piece will also receive a 1/1 of their choice from my upcoming nostalgia series from this area, "Where Time Stands Still," once it is released. A sample of images for this series can be found on my website at flatrionsphotography.com under "Crystal Cove".