The Story Behind A Photograph: Second Beach

It was sunny, maybe 45 degrees. 

I had a week off of work and I was repeating my mantra: “live the life you want.” What did that look like? Full days in the studio and full days of taking photographs. Printing, framing, capturing, developing. Living my dream, for the week.

On this sunny, 45 degree day, I found myself exploring Sachuest Point and the surrounding beaches in Middletown, RI. It was the end of March, and after a long, hard, cold winter, the sun felt wonderful. The wind, however, did not.

With the windchill, the day bordered on being intolerable, but I soldiered on. I walked up and down 3rd Beach and took the trails at Sachuest, taking photographs as I went. I had with me the Yashica FX-3 loaded with Kodak Portra 400 film and the Minolta x700 with Kodak Tri-x 400. Unfortunately, partway through my walk, the Minolta died, mid-roll.

With one camera down and battered by winds, I got to my car after my hike and warmed up. I was ready to call it quits and take the long drive home to Westerly. Passing by Second Beach on my way back, I made the decision to take a quick stop just to check out the dunes. I love the golden color that dune grasses have in February and March. I figured I’d see if the beach was worth photographing and come back another time, when it wasn’t so windy. But when I got to the beach, I knew I couldn’t go home just yet.

The pathways through the dunes were nearly impassable. What was once a cut-through last summer was now just more dunes. The wind had caused the sand to fill in the gap, so that I had to climb up this hill of sand to be able to access the beach. At the top of that dune, I found a gorgeous sight.

It was approaching golden hour and the dune grass was perfect. The dunes were full of ripples, beautiful patterns and textures. And with the high winds, sand was being whipped across the beach, almost like a current of water, threatening to bury the dune fences. 

I immediately started taking photos. I’m drawn to ripples in the sand, to dune fences and golden grass. I tried to capture the sand being carried by the wind, all the while avoiding it hitting me in the face. The craziest part was the footprints. At one point during my photoshoot, a brave couple decided to climb up the same dune that I was on so they could walk on the beach. Any photographer taking photos of pristine sand ripples would cringe to see people walking through their scene. But the wind was so strong, the sand moving so fast, that within just a minute or two, all traces of their footprints in the sand were completely erased. 

This was the kind of thing I love the most about landscape photography. The unpredictability of the weather; the fact that you can return to the same locations again and again with different results; and those moments when everything lines up perfectly and you have the right light, beautiful scenery, and can take a photograph that really excites you. Photoshoots like this can sometimes be rare. You really have to be willing to brave different weather conditions, to get out there consistently with your camera, and to be open to whatever might happen. It’s all about finding the amazing in ordinary places.

I exposed at least half a roll of film at Second Beach. I could have easily done more. But I could feel sand in my nose, my ears, my mouth, and around my eyes. The temperature was dropping as the sun sank lower in the sky. And so I departed.

It’s not often that I’m as excited to see my photos as I was after this outing. The thing about shooting film is you have no idea if you were successful while you’re on location. But I love the excitement and anticipation of not knowing right away. I have the confidence in my ability to operate my cameras and expose for different lighting scenarios, confidence that comes with experience. But can the film pick up what your eyes saw? Not always. In this case, the whipping winds were not always apparent in my final images. Still, I was happy with a couple of photos from that trip, and not at all disappointed in the ones that didn’t come out as desired. The other thing about film? You have to learn to accept when things don’t go right. And that is something that can help you out in real life, too.