By Elizabeth McGinnes.
Canon EOS 600D; 250mm; f/8; 1/1000s; ISO 200
Storm Surfer, by Elizabeth McGinnes
Don’s response
Surfing photography, it’s safe to say, is synonymous with beautiful – often tropical – colour. But as connoisseurs of the form know, there has always been a place for the fine art of the monochrome.
Elizabeth McGinnes’s choice of subject might have been ho-hum in colour, but it fairly “pops” in black and white.
Without the distraction of the usual palette, we are free to enjoy the combination of power and dance-like grace of the subject. The silvery tonality gives the figure an almost three-dimensional quality, and that fan of spray provides a dramatic background.
Given the lack of any real visual interest in the left side of the picture, I wonder how it might work if that was simply cropped out to leave us with a more concise square format.
