I don't mind shooting in the rain, but putting a big box camera up in the wind is always a challenge. There's a delicate dance of making sure you have enough depth of field in your photograph, and getting a shot off between gusts of wind. Otherwise...guaranteed blurry photograph. Every time. To top it off, you have to wait until your film is processed to find out whether you dodged the dreaded wind shake bullet.

It is rare that I will make two exposures of the same scene. I will usually pick a lens and place the camera in a specific location, and stick to it, making the slight moves necessary, based on location. What drew me to this location in the first place was the gradation in the sand in the foreground. It is so pale and lifeless, and played off of the overcast sky so well, and the silver ribbon of a tide pool cutting across the frame...with its dark edges just added so much subtle depth to the scene.

However, just out of the frame of the first composition, where the pool drained to the ocean, there were these subtle fingers and rippled sand foreground. I wanted to capture this scene, as well, and chose a wide angle lens, and a location to balance the immediate foreground with the sand's tone and texture. The aim was to show the water's course, without losing the feeling of the entire scene, which was being overpowered with this ominous, heavy sky. Composing it so it felt balanced, and included enough of all of the elements took several minutes, and required a few slight moves with the tripod to get the camera in the exact position where I had the composition I was looking for.

Then, I made one exposure.