Rewind - Topsail Island Beach Vacation in 2011

I remember being so excited to take all the kids back out around sunset, back in June 2011, when we were visiting Topsail Island, NC on vacation with our good friends.  It was such a fun evening.  We played and enjoyed the beach when sun wasn't the big concern.  We played a lively round of Duck Duck Goose, and let me say, that the ocean and sand and duck duck goose make a fantastic combination.

All of these beach images I've been posting were batch edited.  It comes down to a matter of time for me.  Also, they were batch edited back in 2011.  I see now as I look back how dark they are - under exposed.  My poor little D90 was trying as hard as he could.  The ISO is the part of the D800 I love the most.  But I also see as I went through the images to select the ones to show here.... my D90 was struggling with focus, even back in 2011.  Soooooo many images the focus was soooo terribly wrong.  Amazing how clear it is when I look back - how long I struggled as an artist when it was the equipment that was failing me.

What I love most about these images in this post is how they transport me back in time to that amazing evening.  Yes, of course, I have the memory of the night we spent at sunset on the beach.  But seeing the images - now I remember the ramp down to the beach, the perpetual grin the Little Lady had on her face when she saw the ocean, how Little Buddy refused to hold still and let me get a shot of his EYES, so the one I ended up getting has him pretending to pick his nose, the Duck Duck Goose, the splashing, the JOY.  It is this that makes me fall in love with photography every single day.