We’ve been coming to BI each summer since the mid-90’s, and extended that to the shoulders as time goes by. Pre-dawn stripers started things, but the way the early morning light merges sea with land competes for my attention and I often bring on the kayak an old clunky film SLR with a 50mm lens and wait for minor inspiration. Colors are muted as my eyes adjust, so mostly black and white to match the instant. If I have to put a name to it, I would say that my eye/frame is drawn to the edges where you have to work a bit to absorb the image.
Most interesting to me are the inland’s shelters like the ponds and trails, buffering the winds and suffused with a new light afforded by the fall of leaves. This oblong pearl of an island comes alive after Memorial Day. There is another place and time to appreciate the underlying beauty and serenity. The off-season BI has its own treasures to reveal, as the chill breeze sets in. I am interested in the muted tones and shadows and abstract shapes that emerge in the viewfinder of my old Pentax 6/7 120mm film camera, and they are developed by hand and composed in the analog darkroom to get the tone right. A brisk Fall or Winter’s day has its rich rewards, if you are lucky enough to have the time to look, to see, and to observe.
