A photographer stands alone atop the rocks to shoot sunset
In the majority of my seascape photography I exclude people from the photographs intentionally. My seascape photography is about capturing the power and beauty of nature, and I find that the inclusion of people often creates a distraction.
However, there are times when I find that the inclusion of a person can really add to the story I am trying to tell. Including a person interacting with nature in some way can help tell the story, and can also provide a sense of scale so that the viewer can get an idea of the size of the other objects in the photograph.
A Photorapher Shoots Sunset
On a recent Friday night I headed over to Rocky Point Park, once the site of a local amusement park with breathtaking views of Narragansett Bay but has long since been abandoned. There is an old, dilapidated dock that I wanted to photograph, and it was looking like a very promising night for sunset.
After finding a spot and settling on a composition that I liked I settled in to wait for the light to be right. As I looked at my sample shots on the cameras LCD it dawned on me that the massive size of the rocks, and the enormity of the sky and clouds were lost in the photograph that I was planning on making. The dock in the distance was just not lending the sense of scale that I had hoped it would.
As I stood watching the scene unfold, and debating my predicament I noticed my photographer friend setting up on the top of one of the rocks just a short distance away. It dawned on me that including her in the frame would provide a sense of scale, and as a photographer she would add to the story of being out in the enormity of nature to make a picture!
I quickly changed my location and found a composition that I felt emphasized the vastness that I was feeling. I intentionally left the foreground, especially the photographer a little dark so as not to draw too much attention to her.