Our three months of incredible summer conditions caved in last week with a rainy weather system that even our Auckland friends would have considered rough. I spent the week laying low and waiting for a fine spell to capture some more images of our coastline and those who play here. By Thursday I realised that fine spell might not come this week.
During the week I had spent time in the company of some of St Clair's very own homegrown artists: Justin Summerton and Jason Low. It occurred to me that the rain would find its way onto their canvases in a situation like this. They'd find a way to capture that special moment when the skies open up and deliver a cleansing payload to the streets, houses and beaches we all love.
So I thought about shooting some photos in the rain, risking my cameras and lenses to capture something uniquely beachie in the rain. That's not as easy as it may sound. By the time I had a plan for a shot and the time frame to execute it the clouds split open, the sunshine filtered through and the surf turned on once again. I'll put that one on the back-burner and hope it finds its way into these reports at some stage. It's my blank canvas waiting to be filled, saved for another rainy day.
Once you scratch the surface of Dunedin's beach culture you find a lot of intensely talented and creative people. Like it does for Justin and Jason, this part of the world just fuels the imagination and the plentiful surf gives them the opportunity to immerse themselves completely in their element.
I think it's the same for the other photographers and filmmakers I meet in the surf – we all share that grin, that look, that knowledge that we're tapping into the very essence of why we live and why we are so committed to Dunedin. It inspires you to live a lifestyle enriched with fleeting moments where you feel like the luckiest person on earth.
See you at the beach ...
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