Panther Beach, California, USA. Chasing the Light is more often then not an exercise in frustration, almost as frustrating as chasing Beauty and Grace, now that is gone and will not come back. But the Light was kind this time my way to Panther Beach, a beautiful and iconic stretch of coast few miles north of Santa Cruz in California. More than kind, the Light was gorgeous. The sky falling suit. This image is the first of a series of three taken in the same spot and around the same time, connected by space, time and feelings. They form a storyline that is worth telling: this is Falling down a steep slope without the means and the will to stop. Falling into the crashing waves down below. Falling into Torment. The theme of this image is leading lines, guiding the viewer to the hint of crashing waves that will be the theme of the next image of the series, with several elements of the composition contributing to the dynamism I had in mind when I saw the scene. The vertical composition with a wide angle strengthens the idea of movement. The side light from the right of the frame coming from the setting sun is giving contrast to the image and casting a gorgeous warm light. I chose a very small aperture to have as much as possible of the frame in focus in one single capture, with a soft graduated neutral density filter to keep the sky exposure in check behind a polarizer. The key for this image (and the following ones too) was using a piece of cloth to wipe the lens clean of water every few minutes: waves were crashing left and right.
