The Quiet Watch

About this piece

Warm sunlight catches the weathered surfaces of a white lifeguard tower, setting its angular supports against textured sand and a cloud-filled sky. Beyond the unoccupied beach, a distant ship gives scale to the narrow band of sea.

The story

I framed the tower against the clouds, drawn to the way its pale walls held the light. The stairs led down to an empty stretch of sand, and the small ship on the horizon seemed almost motionless. What stayed with me was the contrast in scale: this modest shelter, built for watching the water, beneath a sky that filled nearly everything around it. I wanted to leave that quiet relationship intact.