Coastal Beach Photography Tips: Water, Wildlife, and Culture—Course Preview

So when you think about adventures, heading out doing things that are fun. You know, you can go to the mountains or the desert, why not go to the ocean? If you go to the ocean, you know, probably one of the most photographed places on the planet where people frolic and play and sunbathe on the beaches, right? All kinds of activities, sailing, surfing parasailing, paddleboarding, kayaking, snorkeling. It's all there, man, it's just a plethora of things to be able to go out and do. So when you're a photographer and you're coming down to photograph places like the ocean, what do you do? Well, you obviously can come down here and spend your time photographing on the beach. Everybody should walk away with the beach out when you're going near the ocean. The other is to think outside of the box a little bit on your trips and come down and shoot the local culture. Look for people that are unique, get parked to them. Talk to them, do little mini stories about them with your camera, consider night photography getting out of the box, all the neon lights that tend to go with these ocean side communities, photographing some of the actions snorkeling consider doing underwater photography. All of these things combined can make a really unique ocean adventure that is very different from the vacation or the photo trip that you took in a wilderness area. And the more you combine, the more you think of it the more places you go and shoot. When you finish you'll be amazed at how much you walk away with. And that's the big thing in photography is that, you know by the time, day, three rolls around, you've really forgotten all the things that you shot on day one. And you realize when you go back, my goodness I shot a lot of things and you walk away and your slide show your program, your story, your article however your pictures are ultimately going to be used. You walk away knowing that you've captured the ocean in a very unique and a special way with a broad base, not just the beach.