walking along
Elements
It is sky and sea, rock and beach. Wind and water. There is a storm crackling through the air, splashing at you, stinging you in the face and wetting your boots. It begins to rain, lashing down until your hair sticks to your scalp. You want to get to the car, take off those wet boots, peel off the waterlogged socks, rub the wet salt from your hair and warm up on the long drive home.
But five minutes later, you are still there. After another ten, you are still watching. Waiting – you don’t know quite what for. Thinking of the flask of hot coffee you left on the passenger seat.
The storm breaks and there is a shaft of light taunting the steel grey sky, teasing the elephant grey rocks. There is a roar as waves splash against the rock. The one that you had pictured as a shipwreck, something that would have been painted by JMW Turner if he had ever made his way to California. For a brief moment you imagine him, easel dug into the beach, wind tugging at the canvas, while he concentrates with the stillness of an artist’s trance. A daub of paint here, a dab of colour there, seeing the storm but oblivious to the roaring wind and booming crash of the waves.
Days later, you hold the small precious slide from the roll of film you took on that day up to the light. All the elements are captured there.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Debra Broughton and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
