Ruby Beach, Washington State, USA

Ruby Beach, #1, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, 2019 (Can you spot the lone homo sapiens?

This is one of those iconic spots that photographers love to flock to, filters and tripods in tow. And so I, too, flocked, on three separate mornings last month.

Ruby Beach, #2, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, 2019

But how to capture something different from what has been done before? That’s the challenge.

Well, you will inevitably capture something different simply by being you, with your unique way of viewing the world through your viewfinder.

The camera itself, your lens and filter choice, and the type of film or digital sensor you use will all contribute to making your pictures different.

And, of course, with the changing of the tides, the wind, the Sun, Moon, and stars, the clouds, the ocean waves, the crowds of tourists (or not), and the light, your photographs will record a moment never seen before and that will never be seen exactly that way by any human again.

Just do a Google image search for Ruby Beach to see what I mean.

Yes, it’s probably more rewarding (IMHO, anyway) to search out unknown and unexplored areas for your landscape photography, but you don’t have to turn up your nose and avoid the classic sites. Go there. See what scenes present themselves to your photographer’s hairy eyeball. Take a few pictures. Just see what happens.

And, even if you never tap the shutter button, these places are iconic for a reason–they are beautiful sanctuaries, Mother Nature (Gaia?) at her finest. So just breathe in the air, etch the memory into the many-and-mangy folds of that upstairs gray matter of yours, and you will leave a happier, more tranquil and meditative human bean (sic).

Here are some examples of how I saw Ruby Beach on those quiet sunrise visits (30″ x 20″ at 300dpi/ppi)…

Ruby Beach, #16, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, 2019

Ruby Beach, #102, Washington State, USA, 2019

This is an interesting comparison–identical compositions, but the first was shot at 1/50th of a second while the second was exposed for 30 seconds (using a 9-stop filter). The water and cloud effects are obviously quite different:

Ruby Beach, #100, Washington State, USA, 2019

Ruby Beach, #101, Washington State, USA, 2019

Finally, here are three photographs made on a morning in which the heavy fog broiled and boiled its way in from the sea, this time experimenting with the theme, “A Lone Humam Bean”: