A piece of my heart died but what a rewarding opportunity it provided.  We don’t get to travel great distances for photography purposes but we took the chance with this trip.  As painful as it was, we still found beauty even with death around.  It makes a great addition to my portfolio.

I think I’ve probably got you all very mystified with the above paragraph.  It’s really a simple explanation.  My grandmother died last month.  It is a very painful loss for me.  She lived in southern California.  We journeyed there for her funeral.  While we were there, we brought our camera equipment for some different photography opportunities than those of the forest and mountains around Idaho.

My grandmother was very dear to me.  That’s part of what makes this loss so deep.  I spent much of my trip down there being numb with grief.  I could interact with other people much like normal but felt entirely cut off from my grief.  Still, I knew that my grandmother would not want to be a bother and would want life to go on.  That is why we planned on taking some photos while we were there.

Initial plans didn’t end up working out thanks to the heat.  It’s much hotter there than we are used to and the humidity is much greater as well.  A trip out to the desert with a bee alert wasn’t something which sounded appealing especially if we had to turn off the AC a full 10 minutes before arriving at certain sites.  We found an alternative.

A few months ago, someone advised me to add photos of the ocean to my portfolio.  Since we were in California and only about an hour’s drive or so (depending on traffic) from the Pacific Ocean, it was too good of an opportunity to waste.  A little internet research was all we needed to find the right location.

We ended up setting our sights on San Diego in hopes of visiting Cabrillo National Monument and getting the lighthouse there in addition to the tide pools.  Alas, we didn’t know that the national monument keeps regular business hours and we arrived 15 minutes too late.

The sky was still very nice thanks to lots of clouds.  We decided to try some local beach photography instead.  That ended up being a problem.  The area was so parked up with tourists and visitors to the beach that we couldn’t find a parking spot.  Surf must have been up as there were lots of surfers out in the ocean.

We finally opted for a spot in a three minute parking or pickup area.  So, I wandered down the beach to where we had both seen a pier a few minutes before.  I wanted to try my hand at the classic shot down the pier photograph.  I didn’t have time to set up the tripod and do an extended shot to smooth out the water.  That 3 minute window was too small for that.  I did take several different shots in hopes of stacking them for the smooth water but that didn’t work out.

One of the last shots I took, before hurrying back to the car to avoid a ticket, was this shot here.  The waves had just finished washing up on the sand.  There wasn’t another wave coming for a few seconds.  It was just the view I wanted without the water splashing up or waves cutting through the shot.  It was a great moment.  I could forget the pain of death temporarily when surrounded by such natural beauty.

This photo trip was a great distraction from the deep pain of death now settling into my heart.  It may be the first of several shots with this purpose in mind.  I hope that you enjoy the beauty I find in the process of death and grieving.