Why I Prefer Morning Walks on the Beach

Each morning, I roll out of bed just before sunrise and set out for the beach. As a photographer, you’d think that I would arrive an hour before dawn at a predetermined location, set up and waiting for the sun to crest the horizon in that decisively oh so perfect way. But, I prefer to photography differently. I like to immerse myself in nature, involving all of my senses, engaging my body as well as my mind. I like to experience the way the light hits the dunes at various angles throughout the morning, the way the shadowed footprints of shorebirds decorate the shoreline. To me, the act of photography isn’t the technical action of choosing the perfect settings with the tripod pointed at perfectly level at the rising sun. It’s about capturing how I felt while I was immersed in this moment, this singular time in my life that I won’t ever have again.