Large turquoise ocean waves break into white spray above a foam-covered foreground, with dark blue water and a hazy mountainous coastline behind them.

The Breaking Light

MG-0286

2024-03-19

About this piece

Translucent turquoise waves rise and collapse beneath broad plumes of white spray. Against the subdued blue of the distant coastline, the breaking water reveals folds, ridges, and fleeting pockets of light.

The story

I watched the water rise until the distant coast almost disappeared behind it. For a moment, the wave held its own small landscape: a hollow of green, a bright ridge, white spray lifting clear of the crest. I released the shutter as those shapes began to give way. What drew me was the contrast between the dark sea beyond and this sudden transparency, the way something so powerful could briefly let the light through.

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