A break made my day
It was raining all night long. At 08:30, when my little one left for school it was still very dark and rainy so I decided to stay home. The weather was perfect for putting a fire on the stove and working from my laptop all day long without worrying about what goes on outdoors. But unexpectedly, the sun came up around 15:00 and after 5 hours in front of the screen, I decided to go for a walk at the beach. Such last-minute escapes are so vital for me. Even the shorter session helps me stay motivated and fulfills my inner need for exploration.
Once I reached the stream of Nedontas river which runs across the city of Kalamata, I met up with a flock of gulls, flying over huge waves topping right at the beams of the afternoon’s sunlight. Such relaxing scenery and a great opportunity for taking photos.
I came up with some nice pictures although I haven’t achieved what I had in mind, which was capturing the gulls with the dark waves as a background to make them pop out. Without a suit or rubbers, I would get wet if getting too close to the shore. However, half an hour later, having ignored my instinct for survival (as always) I was covered with sea spray while shooting landscapes from the top of a boulder and got my clothes, backpack, and camera totally wet.
When shooting near the water it is a good idea to use rubbers or a dry suit. This way not only you’ll keep dry, but you will be able to get very close to the shore which gives plenty of chances for creative compositions. If your camera is not weather-sealed you could use plastic wrap or nylon bags to protect it from spray, sand, or rain. If you are aiming for slow-speed wave captures you’ll definitely need a tripod and neutral density filters. For freezing the water S 1/500 is a good start, but if you‘re going for close-ups you’ll need much faster shutter speeds.
For the photoshoot, I used my beloved and super weather-sealed Olympus EM-1 ii, my go-to lens for birds Zuiko 300mm f4 Pro + MC14 teleconverter, while for the landscapes I used the Zuiko 8-16 f4 Pro & Zuiko 60mm macro.
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Thanks for visiting!
Andreas Markou
