The Breaking Edge

About this piece

White spray rises from a breaking wave, its dark face threaded with branching lines of foam. The close framing removes the horizon, setting the textured movement of the foreground against a quieter field of turquoise water.

The story

I watched the darker water gather into a ridge beneath the turquoise surface beyond. What held my attention was the narrow edge where the wave began to give way: first a line of white, then a scatter of droplets. I made the photograph as that edge broke open. Within the frame, the foam traces several different movements at once, while the water behind it seems almost still.