Recently I was browsing through a few personal photos…it doesn’t happen often, given that most of my time is spent working on photos I’ve taken for clients! It’s unfortunate but I’ve taken lots of personal photos that I’ve not ever really had much time to look through. The digital age is part of the problem I guess…it’s more difficult to wire up an external hard drive and search for photos than pick up a photo album and browse through real photos. That’s why we always advocate wedding albums to our wedding clients…photos are best viewed in print, not on a screen, and I think it will always be that way. Anyway, I came across a particular photo I took a few years ago in a place called Tofino. Tofino is one of my favourite places. Ever. There must be few places on Earth where you find the juxtaposition of snow-capped mountains, pine forest and sandy beaches all in one scene, but Tofino is one of them. It’s located on the Pacific coast of Vancouver Island, which is an island just off the west coast of Canada. You take your car on a ferry from the mainland and then it’s a very laborious but breathtaking 4 hour drive north along winding roads that take you through ancient woodland, through mountain valleys, along glistening lakes and eventually to a small coastal town called Tofino perched among rocky outcrops and archipelago that see the full strength of the wild Pacific ocean. In winter, Tofino sees visitors flocking for ‘Storm Watching’ season…it can be pretty spectacular. We’ve been to Tofino 3 or 4 times now, and I know we’ll always return there to our favourite hotel, Long Beach Lodge. The sunsets are like nothing else I’ve ever seen, and shortly before sunset one night we were down on the beach when I saw a group of surfers walking away from the ocean. The light was amazing and I just managed to expose the image before they walked out of shot. I love looking at this photo as it really reminds me of being there…the colours in the sky, the mist beginning to roll in, and the orange light reflecting on the backs of the surfers. This shot below is straight out of camera- no processing.
