Beauty and the beach is something that we can experience during our meanderings through life. Sometimes in obvious ways… and sometimes unexpectedly. During our trip to New Zealand in late 2024 we had the opportunity to do some exploring at Kaka Point.

This remote hamlet captures much of what my wife and I love about New Zealand in terms of its rugged beauty, quiet location, and friendly people.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

After returning from a day of sightseeing in the area, I decided to go down to the beach with my camera to let some inspiration find me. At low tide the beach at Kaka Point reveals numerous rock outcroppings which can help add interest to typical beach photographs.

Over the years I’ve learned the importance of letting go of my expectations, and to simply experience a local environment. This kindles a wonderful sense of appreciation as we savour the smell of salt air at a beach. Listen to the waves and birds. And allow our senses to cross pollinate… which nurtures our creative impulses.

After creating a few beach images I was drawn to the jumble of shapes and colours at one end of the beach… as you can see on the left side of the image below.

Listening with our eyes can lead us to interesting opportunities as it enables our ‘little voice’ to emerge and direct our exploration. Suspending judgement about what we are finding around us, frees us up to experience its essence and simple beauty.

The images that follow illustrate the shapes and colours that called out to me as I picked my way along this section of beach.

Each of us experiences the world around us in our own unique way. If we can clear our minds and let our inspiration to find us, it can lead to capturing interesting perspectives.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera equipment  noted in the EXIF data. All images were created from RAW files using my standard process in post. This is the 1,464 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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