Look Around You for Images at the BeachWriten by Eric Hartwell
You can find photo opportunities in the most ordinary of places.
Take the beach, for example. If you just sit on the beach for a while you will be overwhelmed by the diversity of opportunities available to you.
To your left is that family group 2 adults and 2 children playing, making sandcastles and interesting shapes in the sand. To your right are those two widows basking on a deckchair fully clothed with only their feet and ankles showing. Behind you, a group of teenagers play beach volleyball whilst ahead, in the sea, there are people swimming.
Look closer. Can you see those boys with their kite, that man on the surfboard and those two children in their boat? Those children splashing, laughing and diving. What about those people strolling along the promenade and those two young lovers lost in their own sweet world?
Theres the store. Ice creams, candy, hot dogs. Lots of colour, lots of activity. That means lots of great images to be had.
Who are you with? A friend? Can they pose next to the pier or by those boats? How about those rocks? In the water?
Over there are some interesting stones and wood fragments. Many different colours and shapes. Can you see how the waves gently lap over them? A ship in the distance would make a lovely silhouette against the bright sky.
Now the sun is falling, the water takes on a different appearance reds and oranges, leading to a near-perfect sunset.
Time to go home. My memory card is full.
Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com