North Light

I've been thinking about Block Island a lot lately. Beyond the fact that I've spent a good deal of time practicing my photography there, it's just a beautiful place. It has this magical way of giving you permission to take as much time as you need to do what you want to do. This long exposure photograph from 2012 is a good example—the North Light is miles from where I was staying, it was long past sunset, and I had never tried to blur the waves crashing on a beach with a long exposure before. Yet I spent half an hour photographing the lighthouse from this vantage point. Block Island gave me the space to capture one of the first long exposures I've ever been proud of. I can't wait to go back.

North Point

 

I regret that it's been almost two years since I posted a photo and story. Life has been busy, so I thought I would post a photo from the place I use to go every summer for a break from the busy—Block Island. Every time someone sees my maroon sweatshirt and either recognizes Block Island or asks me where it is, I recall all the great experiences and memories I've had there, and miss it a little bit more. I took this photo on the one occasion that I walked all the way to the north point of the island, which seems to keep going and going. You must walk past the end of the road, past the lighthouse, and then keep walking. There, at the tip of it all, eastbound waves crash together with westbound waves, splashing up almost like a rooster tail behind a motorboat. It feels strange, like the water before you is unsettled, unsure of what it should be doing.

The One That Got Away

This evening, I was interviewed for a position on the Humans of William and Mary team (a project based on Humans of New York), so I thought posting a photo of a stranger would be appropriate. I was walking along a beach on Block Island a few summers ago, when this masked figure clad in a jet black wetsuit crawled from the ocean right in front of me. I took a few photos before he saw me, and then pointed at my camera to ask if it was ok. He nodded, so I took this photo as he collected his gear. I learned from him afterward that he had just gone spear fishing, but lost his big catch in the surf as he was coming back in, which, he lamented, happens all too frequently. This photo was also featured in Winged Nation 2013.

Seagull Chase

I've gone to Block Island with my dad for about a week every summer for the past 10 years at least. I always use this commitment-free opportunity to improve my photography and develop new perspectives on familiar subjects. This past summer, I devoted some of my efforts to sunsets, which rarely disappoint on Block Island. One evening while I was down on the beach, I encountered a seagull in the surf, and immediately envisioned this shot. But I had to work for it: I chased this poor juvenile back and forth for half-an-hour, trying to simultaneously keep the camera level, keep the bird framed with the sky, and run, all while trying to predict the direction the bird would flee and periodically adjusting the camera's settings as night closed in. So by the time I got this shot, neither I nor the seagull were anywhere near as calm as this photo appears.