A sail boat makes for a dynamic and interesting subject. One problem that we photographers have is that we often fail to find a way to make a dynamic and interesting subject into a photograph that tells a story. Yes there is a story to be told about wide open loneliness of being alone on the ocean, it is cleansing and thought provoking. (Like the photograph to the left) But that wasn’t the story that I was looking to tell with the photograph above. I wanted to help establish a place and time. I wanted to increase the complexity of the composition to give the eye a place to travel, to make the viewer wonder, who lives on that island? Did they see the sail boat slice through the water? How often do boats come past this lonely place? By arranging the position of my boat and the framing of the photograph we get a more interesting story. On the technical side you can see the way that my 2x extender is softening the details of the photograph, especially at the edges with the fringing around the name of the boat. Oh well, would I rather have the photograph with the fringing, or miss the image altogether? Its presence on my blog should answer that question.

If you would like to see all of my images from the race, click here. Southern Straits Race

-Russell Berg