Watch Hill (Westerly), Rhode Island
October 23, 2023
© Rick Kollmeyer
I love waves. The sheer power, the contrast of dark and light, and the wind that creates and drives them.
That probably comes from my father, who was an oceanographer and spent much of his career studying the physics of waves. I grew up learning about them, but despite my obsession with photographing birds, I had never really prioritized waves as a photographic subject.
Of course, it was Deborah who suggested I give them some consideration.
It took me a few years to simply scratch the surface of how to photograph them. Straight on, from the leading side, from the trailing side, in strong winds and in calm conditions. I am still experimenting every time I go into the wind.
On this particular day, a strong nor’easter was moving up the coast. I’ve learned that a nor’easter provides a lot of the ingredients I’ve come to like in a wave photograph: large waves coming onshore, northerly winds creating the backspray, and a cloudy, stormy or at least very gray sky.
So I packed up the foul-weather gear, covered my camera bag with its rain cover and headed to Napatree Point Conservation Area in Rhode Island.
The scene did not disappoint.
I arrived about halfway between tides and spent some time photographing up and down the beach. I also noticed how high the waves had reached during the previous high tide. They had run all the way up the beach and into the dunes.
Over the next two hours, the storm seemed to intensify as the tide began riding higher on the beach. I knew I had a 45-minute walk back to the truck, and I didn’t want the rising tide to cut me off.
Of course, it wasn’t going to be a quick walk back.
The waves were crashing beautifully, and with the lighthouse in the background, I had to stop for a while. I wanted to catch just the right combination of the wave breaking, the backspray and the lighthouse illuminated through the storm.
Eventually, I got it.
Then I skedaddled off the beach to safety.
I gave Deborah this photograph in several sizes for the store. The customers liked it, and it sold well.
And once again, she was right.
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