TexasGirl Photography

Further to my last post, about messing around with “too many” cameras (as much as I recognize that this is a thing, I also recognize it as a wonderful thing), today I am going to talk about my experiences messing around with photography at the beach.

Thanks to the availability of the beach – a 4 hour drive – I have been able to visit it quite a few times over the past bunch of years. I’ve learned a great deal during those visits, including realizing how challenging it is to make NEW photographs of the place. Sometimes I feel like I come home with 24 images of the exact same thing, which are duplicates of the 24 images of the exact same thing I made the last time I was there.

For example, I am OBSESSED with gulls and other sea birds.

above images, Diana and HP5

I am also obsessed with how the ocean looks, the quality of the water, its various moods and colors, and how when the tide is going out it can resemble jelly. I’ve written a number of poems about this, and tried without success to photograph it. Maybe it isn’t possible to do it justice, but it’s not for want of trying on my part!

above images are also Diana and HP5

More than these things, however, I have noticed how much difficulty I have making any kind of photographs at the beach. I don’t know if it’s just the Texas gulf coast that is a crazy challenge, since I have very little basis for comparison, but I really struggle to bring home rolls of film that aren’t a mess. Some of them are so distressed you’d think I have dropped the negatives in the sand and done a little dance on top of them. Below are examples (the previous photos in this post are also examples): the first is from the same roll of Diana images that you see above (or at least the same beach trip); the other two are from a spectacularly irascible roll of 35mm out of my Vivtar UWS

Under other circumstances, these cameras have performed better. I haven’t found the film to be dirty, stressed out from over exposure, and a nightmare to work with. A possible factor in this could be the fact that in the hot Texas summer the beach may as well be the surface of the sun, but I still find it interesting and surprising. I have had the same trouble when I have braved taking my Hasselblad and Nikon, so I know it isn’t just the plastic lens that’s to blame. It’s as if Neptune himself has some objection to my bringing home little pieces of himself, and intervenes through some kind of effluvium with the emulsion. (Silly, I know; did I mention I write poetry?)

I have no idea how the UWS made the above image. Every once in a while it does this, and while the negative is a mess, I will admit I find it a beautiful one.

All of these, even the final two which weren’t on the beach itself, and in which the camera managed to make a cameo, I acknowledge borrowing a phrase from a woman I worked with in London: all those rolls are a total dog’s dinner. But I can’t hate them. They are a mess, and the spot cleaning was tedious, but I still can see the beauty in the mess. And next time I go to the beach, you know what will happen. . . . .

All images Port Aransas, TX 2022 . Thank you for reading!