Sally D’s Mobile Photography Challenge: Challenger’s Choice: Travel (The End of Summer at the Beach)

28 September 2015

Lens:

1. Silhouettes on the Beach; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved

2. Silhouettes on the Beach; Copyright © 2015 Sally W. Donatello All Rights Reserved

Let me know which you prefer and why. Click to enlarge each image.

Pens:

As good fortune would have it, some of the most popular beaches on the East Coast (USA) are but a two-hour ride south. The Delaware beaches are sought as respite for those that live up and down the Mid-Atlantic and much much farther.

I grew up at these beaches–summering there, and my children and grandchildren have benefited from these natural treasures. What can be more nourishing for the soul than casting an eye on the sand and surf, listening to the seabirds, watching pods of porpoises, a pair of whales, or just smelling the salt air?

That place where the ocean meets our day is one of the most exhilarating and tranquilizing. It can erase anxiety and the world’s ills for just minutes or hours. It gives and we receive.

Last week my family and I were there to celebrate. Festivities were spread throughout three days of merriment. The event brought some from the far reaches of our country. Together in that serene environment perfect weather of summer’s end meshed with extroverts and introverts cheering each other in conversation.

The sunrises and sunsets were spectacular. At this time of year the earth’s axis moves to give us changing patterns of light and temps. It’s magical and mesmerizing, especially at the seashore where vistas are readily available. Miles of sand and surf for one’s emotional and physical pleasure. Walking the wreck line is my idea of serenity.

In the Lens section are some images from the weekend: one converted in black and white and the other created with Hipstamatic. Each seemed to give a timeless record. Each shows the grandeur of nature in relationship to humanity’s desire to bathe in sand, surf and sun. Each could have been taken during my youth, my children’s or grandchildren’s.

This particular beach is known for its large swath of sand–luxurious room to savor the ocean’s lure. While the Delaware beaches have year-round devotees, summer is high season for romping with family and friends.

Since the summer was within days of its farewell, the beach had a single line that marked a spot for the day’s enjoyment. Humans were barely visible among the beach’s bounty.

Summer’s end brings a chance to see what is so miraculous about nature’s gift to us: that place that offers new memories that co-mingle with how life with nature was and still can be. Summer’s end offers a chance to understand the power of Mother Nature to nourish and nurture our souls.

Tip of the Week: This past week Allan at Ohm Sweet Ohm gave his readers the news that a new, new version of Hipstamatic (300) was about to be launched (click here to read Allan’s post). Since I am a fan of the app’s capabilities and abundant combinations, I awaited its availability with enthusiasm. In recent posts I have written about Hipstamatic’s place in my photographic tool kit. Now it promised to offer more choices (e.g., three camera modes) for its frequent and  occasional users as well as newcomers. On the day of its launch it automatically updated on my iPhone. Immediately, I began to play with it, and can hardly stay away. The new permutations include so much more than its older version that it astounds. The best place to learn about the app is Hipstamatic’s website, which you can view here. Also I encourage you to try it, because it’s temporarily free at the iTunes store (click here; the new version is 300 and a day later they corrected issues with release of 301). Yes, I rave about the new version, because it offers many changes that really surprised me, and are beyond what I could have imagined. Let me know if you try it for the first time, or your reaction as a seasoned or non-seasoned user.

View other entries for this week’s challenge:

https://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-duck-duck-no-goose-duck/

https://streetsofsfphotos.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/mermaid-on-the-beach-of-santa-barbara/

https://piecesofstarlight.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/the-great-moon-hunt-of-015-for-lens-and-pens/

https://amaltaas.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-sunrise/

https://angelinem.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-a-morning-walk-in-the-vineyards/

http://jillscene.com/2015/09/28/circumnavigating-viti-levu-fiji/

http://artifactsandfictions.com/2015/09/28/in-the-forests-of-the-mind/

http://ohmsweetohm.me/2015/09/29/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-2/

https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/mobile-photography-challenge-architecture/

https://zimmerbitch.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/art-in-the-outdoors-a-vigorous-antidote-to-melancholy/

https://livingwithmyancestors.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-architecture-2/

http://debs-world.com/2015/09/30/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-night-photo/

https://patchworkponderings.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-challengers-choice-night-moon/

https://chasinglifeandfindingdreams.wordpress.com/2015/10/03/the-give-and-take-of-true-friends/

http://nwframeofmind.com/2015/10/04/sally-ds-mobile-photography-challenge-travel-chetzemoka/

Note:

As always I welcome comments about this post or any part of my blog. My photographs for the mobile photography challenge are taken with an iPhone 6.

If you’d like to join this Mobile Photography Challenge, please click here for details and history of the challenge. If you have any questions, please contact me. Below is a reminder of the monthly schedule with themes for upcoming challenges:

1st Monday: Nature.

2nd Monday: Macro.

3rd Monday: Black and White.

4th Monday Challenger’s Choice (Pick One: Abstraction, Animals, Architecture, Food Photography, Night Photography, Objects, Panorama, Portraiture, Still Life, Street Photography, and Travel).

5th Monday: Editing and Processing with Various Apps Using Themes from the Fourth Week.