There is something about the simplicity of this photograph that I absolutely love.
There isn’t a great deal happening, and that is precisely the point.
The landscape has been reduced to a series of simple shapes, colours and layers. A small area of water in the foreground, the enormous sweep of pale sand, that beautiful strip of blue-green sea, the dark land beyond and finally the soft, subdued sky.
Everything seems to have its place.
I particularly like the sense of depth. My eye can travel naturally through the photograph, beginning with the curve at the bottom of the frame and moving across that wonderful expanse of almost empty sand towards the water and the distant land.
But despite that depth, the photograph also has a lovely simplicity. There is nothing unnecessary competing for attention.
And I think that’s one of the reasons it feels so calm.
I love the relationship between the colours too. The warmth of the sand against the cooler blues of the sea and the sky, separated by the dark shape on the horizon. They are quite distinct areas of colour, and yet somehow they belong together.
Perhaps more than anything, though, I love the space.
So much of the photograph is seemingly empty, but to me it doesn’t feel empty at all. The space is an important part of the image. It allows everything else to breathe.
Photographs don’t have to have dramatic light, complicated compositions or an obvious focal point. Images with very little happening can actually sometimes be enough.
There is a quietness here that I find incredibly peaceful.
The layers, the colours, the shapes and the space all seem to have settled into their own place.
Nothing is fighting for my attention.
And perhaps that’s exactly why I keep looking at it.