The Avalon

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 10, 2012376 views10 comments

I was not mortally wounded to have found this beach that I call The Avalon, but it is a place of great solace to me. I was not the first to discover this beach, but I did discover it on my own back in 2001 one month and two days after the World Trade Centers were destroyed.

I was under sever scrutiny and my life was spiraling out of control as the only country that I ever knew as home from the day I was born was suddenly at odds with my chosen faith and I was being incriminated by my neighbors and countrymen for a crime that I did not commit.

I fled to find a refuge where I could find peace and tranquility and did so at this beach. Those two sea stacks caught a glimpse in my eye as I passed along Hwy 1. I found a way to get down there and have been going there ever since.

This was made on a color 4x5 transparency and converted to B&W in PS.

Comments and Critiques welcomed.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on September 10, 2012 at 2:49 PM

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on September 10, 2012 at 4:06 PM

Beautiful Youssef. Love the B&W rendition too. I would love to find a beach like this, just to capture the rocks if nothing else. I'm glad you found this refuge, and sorry that you felt it necessary to find refuge in your own country.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Basil Greber on September 10, 2012 at 4:27 PM

I'm saddened by your story and delighted by your photograph. I like how the pepples lead down to the shore, where the two stacks grab the viewer's attention. The sky is a bit dark for my taste in the upper left, though.

Registered on November 8, 2005, 219 Posts, 1340 Comments

Comment posted by Karsten Wrobel on September 10, 2012 at 4:34 PM

Youssef, very powerful combination of different elements with the stones, the cliffs and the clouds... those fg pebbles/boulders look huge, I guess that's the angle but it really adds to the drama here imo... I am with Basil on the dark sky

sorry to hear about your story that goes with it

Registered on November 1, 2008, 117 Posts, 851 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on September 10, 2012 at 10:46 PM

Very dramatic presentation here, that works quite well for me! Your comp makes this small intimate beach look bigger than it really is. I was looking for it and didn't realize it was right in front of me because the cove it is hidden in is so small!

Sorry for what you were subjected to. It seems that's what we Americans do(rush to judgement) sometimes.

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on September 11, 2012 at 1:09 AM

Very interesting to see so many images from that beach here on NPN. I like your rendition very much. You make it look wider than it was. The bw treatment is very dramatic and fits.

Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seawell on September 11, 2012 at 7:27 AM

This is a beautiful capture and I hope on this day you have find peace.

Mark

Registered on December 5, 2011, 197 Posts, 237 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on September 11, 2012 at 8:55 PM

Youssef,

Quite a somber mood to this - with or without your personal experience behind this.

Looks like we stood in the same place, given the smallness of this little beach, but looks like you had a lower tide here and of course different focal lengths.

Certainly a place I would like to return to, but also one that frankly I don't believe gets a lot of traffic. A wonderful spot for contemplation.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on September 12, 2012 at 11:06 AM

Dramatic and moody. Fits your mood well on a sad day for all of us. The conversion was a good call to convey your feelings.
There is some noise in the sky of the large version. You may have wanted it to simulate grain. If not, you could run it through a noise reduction filter.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Dayton on September 14, 2012 at 1:19 PM

A great capture and well composed, Youssef! I like the B&W version. My only nit is that
I agree with Basil that the sky seems a bit dark. Nevertheless, this is a keeper.

Registered on November 11, 2008, 281 Posts, 3958 Comments