After my first response to Michael Marten where I contrasted a particular location at low tide and high tide I was particularly taken by how the change in water drastically changed the landscape. When reviewing my images, I felt more of an attraction towards the images at high tide. The high water makes me question what exists beyond our reality. At high tide we cannot see the sand and rock formations that are covered by the water, so this makes me think how much more we cannot see in our reality. Questions such as what lies above and below us are stimulated making me wonder how much do we not know. Existence is a never ending process and there is so much more to learn and explore. With these ideas, I wanted to create a sense of power and overwhelming feeling that links to the undiscovered realities that could be out there. Due to the full moon, there were some really big tides in the week that i knew would create some amazing displays. The power of the ocean, creating what can be seen below, shows the force of nature which may be distorting our reality and preventing us from seeing things. Essentially this photographic response is displaying the emotions felt when questioning reality. I feel like photographing the ocean links to the ideas of Zen Buddhism due to the relaxation the ocean can create, helping to disconnect the mind from reality and see beyond this.

Contact Sheet

Edits

Analysis of shoot

Overall, I think this shoot has been a great success. Not only does it show the effects of high tide but it has elements of power, force and underlying symbols that reflect emotion. The destructiveness of the ocean seen in these images act as a metaphor for the anger people have in the world. Emotion cannot be seen, and I wanted to explore through this imagery what it could look like if it was seen. Through my own past experience, I felt as if these waves demonstrated these emotions perfectly. Through my contextual studies on Zen Buddhism and Metaphysical, I wanted to have underlying messages through my images other than what they actually are. Therefore, the purpose of these images other than the aesthetic beauty of them was to show a sense of emotion that one cannot see in our reality.