The story for May

One sunny August Saturday in 2012, I brought some of my best blue-green seaglass and some seashells to a nearby beach for a photo shot. I had this picture in my mind of a cupped hand with seaglass and seashells in it, the golden beach and turquoise sea in the background.

I held the camera in my left hand, and tried to shoot my gracefully cupped right hand with the seaglass and seashells in it. I twisted and turned my arm around, my back and neck craned to extreme angles, while sweating profusely in the sun. However hard I tried, I just couldn't get it right. My hand looked cramped and unnatural, the sea looked more turbid than turquoise, and garbage on the shore looked more conspicuous than ever.  I realized it's an impossible feat unless I have a tripod for my camera, or a model to pose for me.

Then my stomach rumbled and my thirst has become unbearable. It's time for home, or at least, a lunch break.

So I headed back, and on my way, passed a rocky part of that beach.  There was a small stretch of sand surrounded by large rocks. I thought, no harm trying again, this time, without my hand? I placed my best gems on the sand, and lying flat in front of it, assumed the 'crab's eye perspective'. The picture turned out so nice that it became the cover photo for the calendar!