A Relaxing Day at Cocoa Beach
Our beach stuff waits for us to return from our wanderings at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, Florida, on a relaxing summer day.
At first I was having trouble coming up with a title for this photo, but once I looked at it and thought about it, I immediately thought it was relaxing, hence the title. And for us, almost every day at Cocoa Beach is a relaxing one. Or actually most any beach that we have visited, for that matter.
Maybe it would be different if we lived close and were there all the time, but to me this just looks relaxing. See all that seaweed that washed up on the beach? No problem - we can just walk around it. See those clouds off in the distance that look like they might could bring some rain? No problem - we can just go back to the hotel and take a nap if it rains. See those people that set their stuff up right in front of our perfect beach spot? No, because we stayed there longer than they did, getting our good view back once again - no problem. See all that sand that is going to stick to everything that is even just a little wet, or even not wet at all? No problem - it will eventually brush off, or vacuum up, or just remind us of a good day at the beach.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all of life was like that, where we could just take whatever comes at us and let it roll off? Well we can, if we choose to. It is really just a choice. Maybe an easier choice when you are at the beach, but still a choice that you can make every day. And when I forget to make that choice, I will just stare at this photo for a while to remind me.
About the Photo
I went with a vintage look for this one, except that often times vintage looks don’t have quite this much contrast. But I liked the higher contrast look, so it won out here. I did go back and add some tinting to the sky, because while I liked the muted colors of the rest of the photo, I wanted just a little more blue in the sky. Nothing fancy - I just brushed some blue over the sky area to get it to look like I thought it should.
A single RAW exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about the photo software and gear I use at the camera gear page.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
