Moving with the ocean

© Millie Brown

© Millie Brown

A couple of months ago I decided to start an ongoing project on the sea, or in this case where I currently am in South Australia, the ocean.  My intention was to capture its ebb and flow in differing weather conditions and light.

These images are from the first day when I headed down to the beach late in the afternoon ready to capture the water just before and as the sun faded. To achieve what it was I wanted at this time of the day I grabbed the tripod and some neutral density filters.

As soon as my feet hit the sand I did what I usually do after having lugged my tripod somewhere, I ditched it!. I've lugged this heavy piece of equipment all over the world time and time again and barely used it, and I continue to lug it (and barely use it)! Interiors being an exception.

The tripod issue I have is part of an aversion to feeling hemmed in, it's like some sort of straight jacket has been thrown around me, which is not at all how I like to feel when taking photos.  There are of course times and places for tripods (landscapes often being one of them), however it also depends on the outcome you want, and of course it's important to have fun with photography and to not feel too constrained, to experiment, and to definitely throw that rule book away every now and again!

So besides ignoring one element of my pre-planning I decided to stay with the rest of it and shot at a slow shutter speed (around 1/10th of a second or slower), with the 3 ND filters attached and panned, and this is what happened!