Before the Breaking

About this piece

A rising wave fills the foreground, its ridged blue surface edged with white foam and airborne spray. Behind it, a jagged band of dark rock separates the restless water from a distant shoreline softened by haze.

The story

I watched the water gather in front of the rocks, looking for the instant when its surface would lift into a continuous curve. What held my attention was the contrast: the dark, uneven stone and the fine lines running through the blue. As the crest began to loosen into spray, I released the shutter. For that fraction of a second, the wave had both weight and transparency, a shape already beginning to disappear.