The beach, my favorite place. We may visit it every day and never see it all, never appreciate what it has to give, and how extraordinary it's little elements are. It's no wonder this location was such an inspiration for Tom Scott. He focused he's series on patterns seen at the beach after he saw shapes and figures formed in the sand. This brings us back to the basics. The basics that compositional beauty is that of line, shape, balance, color, and more. When we see these elements in nature, they capture us communicating beauty that we don't know how to understand. It's no wonder these are "the elementary design elements". We can only strive to recreate the beauty in the world by combining these things.
As Tom talks about his singular moment at the beach when he felt inspired and began his series. I think of my defining moments which have inspired me to contribute to my photographic book of the city of San Diego. I recall a moment as I was walking rapidly(as i usually do, many people have told me I need to learn to "stroll") down second street around 5pm I spotted a tree, barren of it's once bountiful leaves. One red five pointed leaf remained midway through the branches. It captured me. It reminded me of the nature we ignore because we are overwhelmed with traffic lights, construction, and constant noise. I looked up at this leaf and admired it. It created it's own foreground against the high rise buildings and the setting sun behind it.
