Topsail Rush

[Travis Rhoads]

I have a thing for fishing piers...I seek them out and photograph them a lot, and over the last couple of years I have been working on a series of images of fishing piers with similar shooting conditions. The series has stalled out a bit, this is one of the last images I shot for it, and its almost a year old now. It is a combination of the right skies, colors and wave activity that goes into "The Rush Series".
Topsail Rush by Travis Rhoads, on Flickr

 

[AlanLichty]

This is an interesting shot Travis - the appearance of the water flows , the pier itself, and the skies all come back to a focal point on the horizon where the sun is rising.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

This is an interesting shot Travis - the appearance of the water flows , the pier itself, and the skies all come back to a focal point on the horizon where the sun is rising.

Alan, yes, everything was used as a leading line...when I first setup that morning, I was on the other side of the pier, but the clouds looking NE were not interesting, but the clouds to the SE were what you see here...so I scrambled to move a couple hundred yards north to get this shot lined up this way...I thought it worked a lot better.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Travis,

What a really nice looking shot, and it does have some really nice leading lines. I like that golden glow of the sun too.

It's funny when you described to Alan your movement, you had me scratching my head for a second because of the position of the sun, your directions seemed backwards. Until.... I realized you are not shooting on the westcoast. And then it was, duh...

Also, this reminds me that I had wanted to do a series on the piers of SoCal, I think I got as far as getting to a 2nd pier after I had that idea. So it sounds like you did better in that regards then I did.

Jim

 

[Ben Egbert]

I like series of shots like this and this looks like and excellent addition.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Hey Travis,

What a really nice looking shot, and it does have some really nice leading lines. I like that golden glow of the sun too.

It's funny when you described to Alan your movement, you had me scratching my head for a second because of the position of the sun, your directions seemed backwards. Until.... I realized you are not shooting on the westcoast. And then it was, duh...

Also, this reminds me that I had wanted to do a series on the piers of SoCal, I think I got as far as getting to a 2nd pier after I had that idea. So it sounds like you did better in that regards then I did.

Jim

LOL Jim...yes, I am on the east coast...where we have to get up really early for the good light...

I have shot a lot of piers trying to get this series going...I don't always come away with images that fit or that I like...and the light is a key element in the series.

I like series of shots like this and this looks like and excellent addition.

Thanks Ben.

For anyone interested, this is the collection of the series as a WIP...the final series will be 5 images, what the final images will be is still in flux.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/travisrhoads/albums/72157674426866532

 

[BarryHamilton]

Very nice! As Alan said, it's very cool how everything flows to the 'vanishing point'. Nicely done!

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Very nice! As Alan said, it's very cool how everything flows to the 'vanishing point'. Nicely done!

Thanks Barry. It is nice when it all lines up like that...

 

[Ryan10]

Great image and awesome project. I'd love to do the same, and I'll probably be looking for piers wherever I go.


My one improvement suggestion per post.
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The same advice you gave Jim on his pier shot.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

Great image and awesome project. I'd love to do the same, and I'll probably be looking for piers wherever I go.


My one improvement suggestion per post.
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The same advice you gave Jim on his pier shot.

I should have gotten more in the water to avoid the dry spots...but it was cold...really cold...this was shot on December 31. Some of the rest of the series has the dry sands, as part of the feeling of the rush of a wave onto the beach too.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I like the way that you got almost a checkerboard pattern in the water, between the lines of the retreating water and the ripples of the waves.

 

[Travis Rhoads]

I like the way that you got almost a checkerboard pattern in the water, between the lines of the retreating water and the ripples of the waves.

Thanks Kyle. That is caused by the ripples in the sand in that area, and those waves are incoming. I noticed the patterns in the water as I was shooting a little further away and moved there to include them.

 

[Martín el Escocés]

The textures, colours and light really add up well here, Travis. They all fit so nicely together to set up a superb setting for the long pier.