Ucluelet Bound!: Colour, Shape and Texture

Beach walking on the Pacific Ocean is a serious pastime for this photographer, Dear Reader, and I never tire of the sights, sounds and smells as I wander along. Nor do I neglect Colour, Shape and Texture. These three salient elements are as crucial to a good image as are the two other major factors: light and gesture. Colour, shape and texture may also be sublime in their ability to present a palette and form that is instantly appealing to the viewer.

This morning, we spent a few hours at Combers Beach, walking slowly north from the trailhead to the the end of the beach where the rocks demarcate where Combers Beach ends and Long Beach begins. The morning was bright and clear, with almost no clouds in a sky of deep azure. In the distance, we could see a bit of mist coming in off the water.

At one point, we came across what I think is a crab pot that had washed up upon the beach and was half buried in the sand.

Somewhat further along, an oval platform of raised sand was visible, and when I went to investigate I realized it was a good-sized Dungeoness Crab, it's carapace about 6-inches across. I gently lifted him (or was it a her?) up out of the sand a bit to see whether it was alive, and the legs came to life, pincers clacking at me. I released it, and it immediately set about working its way back down into the wet sand, water spewing vigorously from its mouth.

In the rocks at the end of the beach, a small tidal pool contained a microcosm of shellfish, anenomes and other minute life, resplendent in their colourful diversity.

Walking back, I concentrated on the back of the beach, where there is often more to be seen. It's here that I find the texture differences that catch my eye. Various tracks may be seen, and present a puzzle for the viewer to imagine what the maker was, and what behavior was being followed. Or the waving patterns in the sand that the wind and water has sculpted along the miniature plains and dunes that build up around the logs that the waves have thrown willy-nilly, like jack straws for a game between giants.

At one point, a small stream egressed from the foliage and before it quickly disappeared beneath the sands, it painted the beach a vivid ochre. Probably some microorganism or algae, I suppose.

As I ambled along, I looked for the elements we discuss in this post, the colour, shape and texture that I would then pick up and photograph close-up. I am always captivated with the gorgeous colours of the shells, the palette ranging from bold to subtle, and their marvelous iridescence that looks like a miniature oil slick upon wet pavement.

At one point, I found a fragment of blue plastic upon which barnacles had established a foothold. Who knew what it would look like in a few months, or years?