Autumn colors at the beach

Ablaze with color

An autumn sunset provides a colorful interlude to our evening bike ride along the boardwalk.

Seriously sublime!

Water Ballet

Tandem Surfing at the 2012 E.C.S.C.

Tandem Surfing

Two surfers perform a beautiful combination of ballet and gymnastics during the 50th anniversary of the East Coast Surfing Championships tandem surfing competition. For this particular ride, the surfer road the wave all the way to shore and walked off the board still carrying his partner. It was a site to behold and one that helped the tandem partners secure a place on the platform and in the hearts of the crowd.

So glad I was able to actually capture this image without another photographer, child or surfer walking in front of me just as I was ready to take the picture!

Summer Memories

Dreamy days.

  Surfer Girls

As the days get shorter and the nights cooler, summer memories begin to fade like distant dreams.  

This image of two surfer girls was taken on the beach of Hatteras, N.C. in 1978 and aptly captures the dreamlike quality of wonderful memories.

This is one of my newest surf photography prints and is available here:  Magic Markings Art

 

The Art of Surfing

Surf Art Photography

To answer the question - What is "Surf Art"? - I love this quote by David Bogart - "Save the fancy theories and big words for the art appreciation class. Surf art is simply art focused on the act of surfing. In my mind, if you can look at the work and it makes you want to paddle out, it's surf art, period. If you're stoked, the surf artist has successfully done his job."

 Ocean Surf

Morning Surf

Surfer Boys

These three impressionist photographs of surfers were taken along the coast of Virginia Beach and later manipulated to look like impressionist paintings on canvas.  They are part of my Coastal Color Collection, fine art photographs of beach activities captured around my city and available here.

Paddle out and stay stoked.

 

Take a dip

Inspiration supplied by past and future Olympians

"Being your best is not so much about overcoming the barriers other people place in front of you as it is about overcoming the barriers we place in front of ourselves. 

 It has nothing to do with how many times you win or lose.  It has no relation to where you finish in a race or whether you break world records.

 But it does have everything to do with the vision to dream, the courage to recover from adversity and the determination never to be shifted from your goals."  Kieran Perkins

 Be Inspired!

Mid Summer

Along the beach

AND IT WAS ALL YELLOW

Bright pops of goldenrod, lemon and cadmium yellow are captured with an impressionistic lens. 

Beach entertainment after dark

Images I captured during a summertime walk along the boardwalk after dark.

Evening entertainment along the boardwalk provided by Beach Street USA

Another reason to love the season of summer!

Sign of summer

Just a reminder to slow down and enjoy the waning days of summertime.

Live simply and make every moment count.

Oceanfront Cafe

Outdoor dining beside the boardwalk

 

 

 Beach Cafe - 11x14 inch

Impressionist Beach Photograph

Summer vacationers enjoy the atmosphere of an oceanfront cafe amidst lush, sun-dappled tropical color. 


This image is part of my Coastal Color Collection - Fine art prints inspired by my life in a beach town. To see more from this collection, please click here.

Beach Games

Guarding our shores

 Guards at Play - 11x14inch fine art print

A little bit of summer fun after a day spent serving and saving finds Virginia beach lifeguards enjoying a game of tug-o-war.  Left unseen on the other end is an additional group of guards pulling just as hard.

Coastal Color

Fishing for a spot

 Beach Vacation

Beach boys, beach babes and beach umbrellas stake out their spot of sand on a warm summer day. Meanwhile, up on the pier, a crowd gathers to watch a group of surfers in the ocean below.

Beach Vacation

Sum, Sum, Summertime!

Beach boys, beach babes and beach umbrellas.

Just another summer day at the beach where everybody craves their small slice of seaside nirvana. 

These images were captured during an afternoon bike ride along the oceanfront boardwalk. 

Capture the flag

The U. S. Flag caught by my camera this morning

AT THE BEACH:

AROUND MY HOUSE:

Wishing you a great day no matter what colors you fly.

Beach bikes and bathing suits

 Ocean View

An impressionist backyard view of a group of seaside bikers, bathers and swimmers enjoying a lovely day at the beach as a distant ship passes by on the horizon.

This image was captured during a late afternoon stroll along the oceanfront and is part of my Coastal Color Collection - a series of fine art photography prints inspired by my life in a beach town.

Beach day

Paddle boarding

My husband and I brought our newest ocean toy along for our mini vacation in Rodanthe, North Carolina this past weekend.  We were staying with friends in their recently renovated beach house while celebrating our first annual "Open that bottle night" (more on that to come in another post) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to try out our 12 foot paddle board.  My husband has taken it out in the ocean at home a number of times, so he totally knew what he was doing.  Unlike his wife who was trying it for the first time, and for whom every foot vein and muscle were showing from trying to grip the board while standing.  After falling off a number of times, and learning to relax my feet and legs, I finally, kinda-sorta, got the hang of it and was able to stand up and paddle. I am now officially hooked and look forward to a new sport to share with my husband and family!  It's a great workout and if you have the opportunity I highly recommend you give this fun activity a try!

This image is part of my Coastal Color Collection - a series of fine art photography inspired by my life in a beach town.

Angels over the ocean

Angels over the ocean

Blue Angels fly in formation as a group of seaside bathers, swimmers and surfers gaze up in wonderment at the pilot's aeronautical maneuvers .  I captured this moment in time from a friends dune deck on a gorgeous day in June when the Blue Angels, the United States Navy's flight demonstration and formal flying aerobatic team, were in town for a Patriotic Festival. 

Part of my Coastal Color Collection.

Enjoy Summer!

Enjoy Summer

BEER, BEER, WINE, WINE, FOOD?!!!

On my walk yesterday afternoon I decided to take a detour off of the boardwalk.  I was curious to see what our town might look like through the eyes of a tourist.  So, with i-phone camera in hand, I headed down the strip - past souvenir shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, bars and drug stores.

I had one of those double-take, "You've got to be kidding me" moments when I saw these two signs hanging in the window of a souvenir shop. Really?  Beer, wine, food, coca-cola - are these seriously the ingredients to an enjoyable summer?!  As I continued my walk I knew I had to amend this discrepancy with my own little take on the subject.

BIKE, SURF, WALK, DRINK

I think these four words more adequately describe how one might truly enjoy summer .

Be healthy, be active, have fun.

Coastal Color

A new collection of vibrant images captured around my colorful town.

Beach Cruiser on the boardwalk

8x10 inch print

A walk along the boardwalk provides so much color in the form of people and objects, especially during summertime.  With the beach a 5 minute bike ride from my house this brilliant expanse of color is a view I am lucky enough to see on a daily basis.  Knowing others are not so fortunate, I thought it would be nice to share pieces of my multicolored town.  So I kick off my coastal color collection.

I hope you enjoy this perspective of "my" beach.

The collection will also be available in my MagicMarkingsArt shop.