Bowling Ball Beach

[Travis Rhoads]

Back in April after doing some work in the Bay area I spent a few days up north with two good friends. One is a fellow photog the other is way more tolerant of our habits. The whole location was based on finally getting to see Bowling Ball Beach. When we arrived it was pretty overcast and ugly, and there were two young lovebirds sitting right in the middle of the rocks when looking north and they showed no sign of leaving anytime soon...so I worked a couple of comps looking south. I timed being there for when the tide was low but rising, so that there would be some water in and around the rocks. This was one of my favorite images from there. 8 30 Second stacked exposures using the Smooth Reflections App on the Sony A7R2. I decided to share it here in the B&W forum, for the simple reason that it was a B&W image from the time I tightened the knob on the ball head...I knew it would always be a B&W image.

Bowling Ball Beach Studies No3 by Travis Rhoads, on Flickr

 

[MayD]

Great job! The place seems almost mystical.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Travis,

That's a very cool shot of Bowling Ball Beach, and more aptly suited for the Bowling Ball Alley title then my shot.

I like the way you handled the B&W, the deep blacks and not just shades a gray. The one time I have been by there, the tide was too high, and I wasn't able to shoot the bowling balls, so this is still on my list for the next time I head north to the Redwoods.

Jim

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Great job! The place seems almost mystical.

Thank you, it felt that way in person too...such strange rocks just sitting there...so the LE really complimented that. At least for me.

Hey Travis,
That's a very cool shot of Bowling Ball Beach, and more aptly suited for the Bowling Ball Alley title then my shot.

I like the way you handled the B&W, the deep blacks and not just shades a gray. The one time I have been by there, the tide was too high, and I wasn't able to shoot the bowling balls, so this is still on my list for the next time I head north to the Redwoods.

Jim

Hey Jim, this is the place I was thinking of when I saw your post...so it inspired me to post this one.

Yes, I really like good deep blacks in my landscape photography. I try to cover zones 1-9 with an image if I can. I don't mind the shades of gray for other things like people photography, its more flattering to people to avoid zone 1 and 2.

 

[lightsgood]

Very moody. The stones could almost be skulls. Great image Travis.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Hi Travis, very nice shot. You handled the B&W just right.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Very moody. The stones could almost be skulls. Great image Travis.

Thanks, I had not considered that, but yes, they very well could be...alien skulls...

Hi Travis, very nice shot. You handled the B&W just right.

Thanks Ben, it was always going to be black and white, most of what I shot there that day ended up fitting in black and white.

 

[Ryan10]

Great work. Personally, I would of grabbed a couple shots with the "love birds" in them for scale and perspective. How do those rocks get that way...gonna have to "google" that.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Great work. Personally, I would of grabbed a couple shots with the "love birds" in them for scale and perspective. How do those rocks get that way...gonna have to "google" that.

Thanks Ryan. I would not have felt right taking the kids picture...I am not much of a street photog, always feels like invading privacy.

These rocks, how they get that way...good question, we could see some of them stuck in the face of the cliff that had yet to be released...but how they form and end up here in this way, I don't really know of the top of my head.

 

[BarryHamilton]

That's very nice. Great comp, light and tones.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

That's very nice. Great comp, light and tones.

Thank you Barry. The light was hit or miss, but it makes for a nice black and white image.

 

[Tex Schneider]

Travis:

This is a stunning B&W image! Great lines through the composition, the location makes for an awesome foreground and I love the drama in the sky! So well done!

Tex

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Travis:

This is a stunning B&W image! Great lines through the composition, the location makes for an awesome foreground and I love the drama in the sky! So well done!

Tex

Thank you for the feedback Tex, glad you like the image!