Lens-Artists Challenge #187 – Water Water Everywhere
“The water rolls, the clouds move and light reflects off all it touches.”
Steve Coleman
This week Anne challenges us to share images featuring water. Living on an island filled with marshes, ponds and lagoons, and surrounded by the sea, I thought it best I stick close to home this week. I’ve included only recent images of some of the beauty that surrounds us here on Kiawah. Sometimes I wonder at the magic of Mother Nature.
“For me making a digital photo is like making a watercolor..it’s not a painting and it’s not a photo. It’s something altogether new.”
Art Wolfe
I love Art Wolfe and must admit I agree with his quote above. The scene I created with my image is a slow pan of the grasses along the edge of the marsh, lightly treated with some Topaz Impression software. Often overlooked because the marsh itself is so lovely, I’ve always loved the gracefulness of the grasses that surround it.
“It is usually some incidental detail that heightens the effect of a picture – stressing a pattern, deepening the sense of atmosphere.”
Bill Brandt
I had a bit of fun with the image above. Two distinct methods of oyster-catching…..which do you think is more effective? 😊
“The cure for anything is salt water; sweat, tears or the sea.”
Isak Dinesen
Of course I couldn’t do a post about water without including an image of the ocean here on Kiawah. Its many moods can be seen on any given day, week, month or year. I made the image above following a minor storm because I liked the patterns the waves had left on the beach. The smell of the salt air and the sound of the waves never fails to make me smile.
“The rivers flow not past but through us.”
John Muir
While for me our waters are a source of solace, beauty and of course photography, for many of our visitors they are primarily meant for fun. Kayaking is one of the best ways to experience our island and when we have guests we almost always spend a day paddling in the rivers and marshes where dolphins frolic and often strand, birds are plentiful and the air is incredibly fresh and cool.
“Do not curse the alligator before crossing the river.”
Dr. Lucas D. Shallua
In any discussion of water on Kiawah, we must of course include an image of an alligator lurking in one of our many ponds. Although we take little notice of them around here, on the day I came across this big boy I felt he really needed to be featured on the blog one day, and so here he (or she) is.
Many thanks for hanging in there with me as I explored our water challenge – and of course a warm welcome to Anne as one of our newest team members. Please remember to include a link to her original post here, and to use the Lens-Artists Tag to help us find you. Next week our challenge will be led by our guest host, Karina of Murtagh’s Meadow. Be sure to visit her beautiful site where she shares the magic of rural Ireland and it’s amazing nature.
Confused about how to join the Lens-Artists Challenge? Click here.
Travels and Trifles 
Quotes and water are the best! Thank you, Tina 😊🌍
https://www.ramblersparklingwater.com/
With your opening photo ‘Kiawah Island, On Any Given Day’ I really do not know why you’d ever leave (even to NYC!), heaven on earth. My favorite shot of yours in this series would be the ‘Dancing Grasses’ because panning use to be one of my favorite techniques… because when you do get it right, it is special, and this shot of yours is special. It can be so difficult, if not impossible, to portray a dynamic part of the environment you’re shooting and I think with the mood/feel of windblown grasses are beautiful to see live but lose it all when photographed. Beautiful work, Tina, once again 🙂
Thanks Randall, I agree that capturing the right feel with movement is always a challenge, but also rewarding when you can create an image that matches your vision. Today’s tools to a long way toward making it possible. They’ve come a very long way these past few years.
Agree, with both the challenge of capturing a mood in a photo and the new tools that allow us to come closer to what we see/feel. The advances in photography can be overwhelming at times 🙂 Wishing you a good weekend ahead!