Beach Therapy

Salisbury Beach is one of our favorite beaches. We walked along a good expanse of sand and rejuvenated by observing the gulls and watching and listening to the ceaseless waves. Beach therapy cures many ills. This was a midweek visit after the summer season so there weren't many other folks around.

It was high tide and the ocean's ebb and flow created quite a smooth crest of sand that the waves would occasionally spill over to where we were walking. In a few of the photos the sea gulls are on the other side of this crest from the camera, so the sand line in the images can appear quite strong near the bottom of the frame.

Here's a sandpiper having some lunch:

Sandpiper Clamming

Several gull photos follow, mostly strolling, a few in flight:

Shore Gulls #1

Shore Gulls #2

Shore Gulls #3

Shore Gulls #4

Shore Gulls #5

Shore Gulls #6

Shore Gulls #7

Shore Gulls #8

Shore Gulls #9

Shore Gulls #10

Local color:

Floatables

Restorative Walking

Splash Zone

There were two people flying in wind and fan powered chutes!

Over the Rooftops

Flying Machines

All photos © 2021, all rights reserved.  Contact phil@philslens.com for licensing or to order prints.

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A Cape Cod Beach

We spent a few mid-December days on the Cape as a mini-vacation. The weather turned quite cold and rainy for a good portion of our visit. After a mid-storm walk on the beach one day, we enjoyed a second walk along the same (Dennis) beach the next day, after the wet weather broke but the wind had picked up. That's when I took these photos.

This is my last post of 2019.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Beach Rocks

Long Shadows

Long Shadows 2

Storm Mostly Over

True Grit

Toward the Dunes

Heading Home on a Cold Windy Beach Day

All photos © 2019, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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At the Cape: On the Beach

At the Inn, they said the Cape Cod National Seashore is often considered one of the ten best beaches in the world. While I can't verify that claim, I can attest that at least from our point of view, it does seem pretty spectacular. Per Wikipedia, it includes nearly 40 miles of seashore along the Atlantic-facing eastern shore of Cape Cod.

Beach Infinity

Hat Stays On

Seagull in Profile

Beach Inspector

Pickup Line

Struttin'

Feathermania

Wind at His Back

These next two photos were taken by Deb, with my camera.

The seals were remarkably close to the beach. While one could swim quite near them, we were warned not to do so because apparently large sharks like to eat seals, so the sharks were likely not too far offshore.

Whiskers Above Water

Deb took a picture of this stranger having way too much fun in the water.

No Idea

All photos © 2018, all rights reserved.  Contact philslens@gmail.com for licensing or to order prints.

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A Day at the Beach

Salisbury Beach State Reservation is part of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) system. Deb and I made a recent visit on what turned out to be a perfect weather day. While I'd been to Salisbury Beach before, I'd been to the section outside of the State Reservation. This visit was to the maintained State Park portion and we were greeted with well maintained grounds, and an overall terrific beach experience. The water was remarkably clear, and the sand was smooth with no sharp objects, making barefoot beach strolling a joyful pebble and shell free experience. I had my Olympus camera along with my 75-300 telephoto and took some shots. Kids, waves, and seagulls were my prime targets.

Red Rimmed Seagull Eye

Bird's Eye View

Gray-Brown Speckled Feathers

Wowza! Check out this woman. The Black Lives Matter pin is an important part of the ensemble.

Gorgeous Woman Spotted on Beach 

Closed Eyes Water Ballet

Stop Action Walking

Water Coating

Best Friends Embark

Boys Being Boys

Splash Landing

Pure Joy

Lines

Beach Grass

Keeping Us Safe

Copycat Seagulls

Seagull Legs and Toenails

Landing Zone

Formation Takeoff

I've collected many poor shots of birds in flight during my time as an amateur photographer. These shots are a source of great humor as they are invariably blurry and/or partially out of frame. Taking a sharp picture of a bird in flight is one of the most challenging photographic subjects in existence, especially if the bird is mid-sky, with no nearby objects, and isn't just taking off or landing. However, once in a while the camera gods shine down on me, and I get a shot off with the subject completely in frame with the focus point close to perfect. Witness the rendition below of a seagull in flight. This is a 600mm eq. shot, while panning the sky to attempt to follow the bird's flight pattern. It is still slightly blurred, likely due to the 1/800 second exposure being not quite fast enough. Image data says this subject was 90 feet away.

Seagull in Flight

All photos © 2016, all rights reserved.  Contact me for licensing or to order prints.

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