The story of July

This is my all time favorite photo, I hope it'll be yours too!
Last August, I took a day off from work with the sole purpose of doing some seaglass photography at my favorite beach. I had hoped for a sunny day, but woke up to grey skies. I had second thoughts about doing indoors photography instead, but went out anyway.
When I arrived at the beach, the tide was high and still rising, waves were crashing and clouds were heavy with rain. As the waves started to engulf the wooden planks that I've set my props, I realized they would make a more dynamic background!
Right after this picture was shot, one of the multies started rolling away, but I managed to snatched it back!

The story of June

 

It's easy to understand the message of this photo - contrasting rainbow with a black and white rainy background - 'sadness will be over, there's always better days ahead'. This belief kept me going during some of the worst days of my life.

In the photo, there's four interwoven layers, each representing different moments I've experienced.  A rainbow of seaglass in the top layer,  a melancholic black & white photo in the middle layer, and a black mirror surface with reflections of trees in the bottom layer. The fourth layer - raindrops - interconnected all the other layers.

The B&W photo was taken on the way to visit my mother in the hospital, where I stayed 8 hours everyday for weeks. It was the coldest winter month, the snow and leafless trees made me feel even more lonely and helpless.

She didn't make it.

Months after, I was still overwhelmed with guilt, sadness and tears. I represented these emotions by the black mirror, shady branches and raindrops.

Seaglass. These priceless gems were once broken shards, polished by time and tide. I too will be stronger and better with every hardship I went through.

 

 



The story of April

This is one of my favorite. Everytime I see this photo I laugh silently at myself, remembering how clumsy and funny I must have looked during the shooting.
The ballerina's leg is not from a plastic doll, it's the tip of an ancient, eroded conch shell! I found it on a beach right behind a famous local seafood spot. This tiny beach is literally covered with tons of shells from oysters, clams and conch.
The graceful ballerina is tip-toeing through a maze of pastel gems, floating on quicksilver...actually it's a mirror with seaglass scattered all over, me steadying the 'ballerina' with one hand, clicking the camera with the other. And I'll tell you, that's no easy job!
Most of the time, and this time as well, my 'photo studio' happened to be the extra-wide 2.5 feet window pane in my living room. I started off with a small mirror, but quickly realized that I need something much bigger to cover the whole background. I ended up taking the wall mirror off my dressing room. This mirror is 2x5 feet. In order to catch the sunlight at the right angle, it has to be placed across the window pane, so half of it just hanged off the edge!
I set up everything, precariously balancing the overhanging half of the mirror on my knee, scattered seaglass all over the mirror, held the conch tip in place, while squatting with my camera to take in everything at the best angle. Alas, the mirror surface is so smooth that the 'ballerina' kept slipping, the mirror kept tipping over, throwing seaglass all over the place! Patiently I picked up everything, set them up again and repeat.
I don't know how many times that slipping, tipping and scattering happened, but I knew I was sweating like mad from the crazy balancing act! All the while I kept telling myself to get better props and try again some other day. Yet the optimmist in me cooed, 'give it one more try, it'll be perfect this time'. I don't know why I hadn't thought of using a camera stand in the first place!
Gradually, the sunlight changed its angle and no longer worked, so I just have to stop. I uploaded the 50 plus shots on my computer and looked through them closely. Gladly, at least a few looked close to what I have in mind. I smiled with satisfaction and lied on the floor, massaging my sore back.

Seaglass Calendars and Cards

Have you bought your copy of the 2012 Sea Glass Calendar by Down East Publishers yet? The 2013 one is coming up soon! I am the featured photographer for both calendars, and all seaglass photographs in the calendars are available as blank cards in my shop! Just let me know which months are your favorite and how many you need.
Contact me at http://www.ecstasea.etsy.com
Here's some examples from the 2012 calendar:





I've include one example from the cover of the 2013 calendar: