You take your camera to the beach?!

I used to post on Reddit more often. A comment I always saw repeated whenever I'd say I was going to the beach with my camera was that the risk was way too high. And this is something I simply don't understand. These cameras were designed to be used even in warzones and yet somehow they can't sniff sea water now?

That isn't to say one shouldn't take precautions. I use a UV filter on my lens to avoid any grain of sand scratching the front element. I also avoid changing lenses so that the rear lens element is never exposed. Loading film, when necessary is done with the camera hanging off my neck as usual, which avoids the potential for dropping the camera in the sand with the back open. When not in use, the camera goes back in the bag and zipped up until needed. This system has never failed me and subsequently beach photos have become some of my favorite to make.

Two vintage cameras and a shot glass arranged on a wooden table with a yellow bowl of berries and flowers in the background.

I took both of my cameras with me to the beach. I had my Leica M3 with my Summaron 3.5cm and my Pentax MX with my 43mm. I didn't want to think too much, so I zone focused with the Summaron. This will always be my favorite way to make street style photos.

Black and White by the Sea

The use of black and white film at the beach might seem an odd choice today. But to me, it just makes sense. Why not make photos that look like those timeless black and white photos we all fell in love with? And timelessness is a big part of why I enjoy Tri-X at the beach. Many are busy swimming, sunbathing, or reading. Very few are on their phones or iPads. What you end up with is a photograph of people doing people things, which is becoming increasingly harder to photograph as time goes by.

These 50/50 landscape/seascape photos are a lot of fun. Finding the right balance between land and sea, where to put the shoreline, how much sky to include, these are always interesting decisions to consider and lead to photos that while similar in setting and composition, always end up different.

Family and dog relaxing at the edge of a swimming pool on a sunny summer day.

Considering these two, they are worlds apart, in my opinion. The first photo is about the environment in a general sense. This is very close to a traditional landscape/seascape photo. The kind that you might find in a photo album in the 1950's. The second photo, however, tells a different story; this isn't so much the story of the beach, but of those that visit it.

The second photograph shows my youngest, Wes, playing with some sand in the foreground. The trees and shoreline are still here, but they aren't the focus. Even Wes on his own doesn't tell the story. Behind him are two women in bathing suits. Further beyond them are folks parenting children, playing in the water, and lounging about. By shifting my perspective lower, I was able to show the kinds of people at this beach, all there for different purposes, yet all enjoying their time.

A black and white beach scene with tall palm trees and small structures on a sunny day in a tropical setting.

Using my kids as foreground for landscape style photos is something I love doing. This one of Link, I think, is a better example still. This one shows the beach at Cape Coral with Ft. Myers on the horizon. I'll try to overlook the Yankee's ball cap that he's wearing (GO RED SOX!).

I love classic photography rules. And I don't think it gets any more classic than the rule of thirds. While the skyline and shoreline aren't perfectly in the rule of thirds (it can be difficult to gauge this with a rangefinder) Link certainly is. Even the buildings on the horizon seem to peter off with the rule of thirds. there is so much going on with this shot and I the quick run-and-gun style of shooting stopped down and zone focusing with a rangefinder is really the best way to do this. In the end, you've got a classic beach photo.

A child in black sits on a sandy beach using a shovel near a white bucket on a cloudy day.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

I did mention I also brought some color film with me, didn't I?

My Pentax MX had a a few shots left over from the roll of CineStill 800T I'd loaded up the night before. Thankfully, I was shooting at box speed, so using Sunny 16 and overexposing a stop would make it very easy to finish this roll at the beach. I had shot 800T in daylight before and liked the results a lot, but it had always been in overcast situations. This would be the first time I used it in bright and sunny conditions.

I loved the results. The blues punch...hard. And there is such a distinction between the shades of blues, as there is with the shades of green. The colors are vibrant and beautiful. This is the way I remember the beach looking that day, even if it isn't true-to-life.

A young child wearing a light yellow shirt smiles warmly with spontaneous joy while looking upward at the camera.

I used the same lens that I used for roughly 95% of all the shots I took with my Pentax on this trip, the FA 43mm f1.9 Limited. It may be the focal length I feel most at home with. It gives me exactly what I want every time. When I use it with a digital camera, I tend to shoot at wider apertures because I love how it renders bokeh. But on film, I usually shoot stopped down.

These were made at f11, and you can see every single detail of every single element in the image. This lens, quite simply, can do it all and then some. It is so small and easy to use that I almost don't want to use any other lens. And because it is so versatile, I almost never have to end up using another lens.

I made quick work of that roll of CineStill and moved on to my favorite: Kodak UltraMaX

A young child in a yellow t-shirt rests their head on their arm while sitting near a window.

Oddly enough, I feel like UltraMax and 800T complement each other quite well. This is my usual pairing for medium speed and fast films. Their color science is not far off and it helps create a through-line with the photos.

I felt more at home with the UltraMax. I still used my bastardized Sunny 16 rule (for 400 speed film I use 1/250 instead of 1/500 and I shoot at f11 instead of f16) and felt like the level of contrast helped with the sharpness of the images. There is a magic to the way the 43mm f1.9 Limited and UltraMax interact. There is a magic there.

I had already made a few 50/50 landscape/seascape photos, so I opted for one early on in the roll that was essentially a sandy shot. Very little shoreline in the shot. But the stories present are everywhere!

A black Labrador dog peers over someone's shoulder outdoors on a sunny day as they wear sunglasses and white top.

A beachgoer relaxes under a beige umbrella on a white sandy beach with blue ocean and distant buildings visible.

A yellow toy bulldozer and orange sandal sit isolated on smooth beige sand at the beach.

I made attempts to think outside the box.

Like this one of Wes' toy dump truck and sandal. Wes is best described as a bat out of hell. He doesn't arrive anywhere calmly ready to begin an activity. No, he bursts onto the scene and informs everyone that he has arrived. So when I saw his toy and lone sandal (where the hell was the other one?!) I thought it was so indicative of a Wes aftermath. Likewise, I went for something a little outside the box of what I had been doing at the beach, which was more classic people photography. I decided to use a sort of minimalist approach and photograph this woman sitting by herself. It made for a totally different feeling photo to the ones that I'd made all afternoon long. I would remember how that one felt in the process of making it.

Looming over everything, found at the very end of the beach, was a Cape Coral staple, The Boathouse. This restaurant had served Cape Coral for years, but was devastated by a fire last year. Seeing it in such a state of disrepair reminded me of the destruction we saw in Sanibel and Ft. Myers the year prior.

Florida has a lot going for it. I think Floridians are a misunderstood bunch. Yes, there's plenty of Florida Man to go around. But, there's also some fantastic people. And while I won't say our beaches are the best in the world, I will say they stand up to the best. But unfortunately, insurance companies have made it difficult to live and operate business here. I don't see myself leaving any time soon, but sights like these make me sad.

Two dogs playfully interacting together on a tiled floor with turquoise chairs in the background.

Be Not Afraid

Yes, be not afraid to take your camera with you to the beach. The beach is warm sun and cold drinks. The beach is golden tinted memories.

I said it at the top of this blog, but some of my favorite family photos have been made at the beach. Maybe it's the primal feeling of being one with whence we came. Maybe it's the Cuban islander blood in me. But I know that when I'm at the beach I feel connected. Shoes off, sun shining, and vibes for days.

When I'm at the beach, I'm whole.

A group gathers around a dining table for a meal under warm lighting with blue abstract artwork on the walls.

But I'm not alone in feeling that. Many people feel this way. With a back full of sunscreen and toes full of sand, most all of us have a smile on our face. What is it about that magical place that just makes us happy?

So why deny ourselves photographs in this amazing place? I've championed the smartphone camera as a viable option when there are no other options. But why force yourself to work with such a machine when you can easily take a camera and capture all the love and happiness to be found there?

Slap a UV filter on your lens, and you're set. Employ common sense, of course, but the more comfortable you get with being around sand and water with your camera, the more fun you'll have.