Today we begin a new week of photography with work by new and former contributors. Enjoy!

The Way

I’ve always been interested in how a title can change the art. I was walking through a neighborhood on Oregon’s north coast, shooting the view of the ocean between houses. The Oregon coast is rocky and dramatic (and chilly) and less about miles of smooth white sand than a chaos of tributaries, rivulets making miniature cliffs, huge logs tossed around like toys. This photograph contains an alarming number of broken surfaces. I was actually focusing on those beautiful, ordered clouds overhead dispersing into fog but when I looked at it later I saw the real story was the shining body of water that beckoned like a path, like the Buddhist saying, “There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.” I require that constant reminder. So I titled it: “The Way.”

The Queue

I’m kinda fascinated by the impulse of people to queue up. I know pranksters sometimes set a few people up in a row and see if they can get others to gather, not even knowing what they’re waiting for. I guess fairness is part of it and even the calmness of a line but I really think of it as a human foible. So it made me laugh to see these birds, each on their little rock waiting so patiently, with one on the way to join in. I think the concept was helped by the flatness of the light and questionable depth of field that makes the water begin to look like pavement. There they stand, waiting for that store to open and that store is nature itself.