'The Powers That Be' is the title here...

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/powers_that_be

After Romans 13:1 in the Tyndale Bible 1526: 

“Let every soul submit himself unto the authority of the higher powers. There is no power but of God. 

The powers that be, are ordained of God.” 

So what 'powers' are at work here? Is the cloud actually driving that shell over the sand? And is the sand eroding, eventually to collapse the shell's perch? Tides are getting into the act here too, rearranging the sand in whatever way it will. Let's not forget wind, either.

The only constant is... change. Always. Count on it.

'We are stardust, we are golden, and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden'

- Joni Mitchell

I am self-published now:

'California Beach Trip':

On Amazon:

www.amazon.com/dp/1364579138

'Desert Trip'

On Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1367900190

This includes an image i have recently posted, titled 'Desert Time'.

'Seeking the Vibe'

On Blurb:

http://www.blurb.com/b/6834807-seeking-the-vibe

Previews of all at:

http://www.bobbennettphoto.net/BB_Books/index.html

And if you want to see even more:

http://www.bobbennettphoto.net

Happy New Year!

I hope i always keep this saying, or prayer as it is called, close to heart.

The Serenity Prayer is the common name for a prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971). The best-known form is:

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer

Hope you enjoy my Year End portfolio!

Who knows what the future will bring.

Let's go there anyway, we have no choice, do we?

'Only an empty bucket can be refilled'

“Silence is the language of god, 

all else is poor translation.”

“What you seek is seeking you".

“Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there is a field.

I'll meet you there".

The author of the above? 

Rumi

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/875661.Jalaluddin_Rumi

Beach Mirage

I did this darkroom print really quickly, simply - wasn't much impressed w/ the result immediately, but it has grown on me. Who is this huge figure in the distance, coming thru a misty tunnel?

Is this the begining of a zombie apocalypse movie?

Or something more benevolent?

Above, digital coloring

The source image for this, made at Ocean Beach, SF, CA., was on this roll/film.

The place is a magnet for anyone looking for an enlightening refreshing experience without having to go very far at all. I lived in SF from '92-2001, i spent many a dollar on bus fare going to and fro. That's all it took, a buck, RT ticket.

At the west side of town, it extends south for miles. It's landmark structure - Cliff House - has undergone numerous renovations. The Sutro Baths was a huge vault of a place, that took in ocean water in a controlled way for a frothy cold bath. Above both of those, Sutro Gardens. Adolf Sutro liked to name places after himself. The ruins of the Bath House still take in hi-tide seawater, a path north leads to several viewpoints, and trails lead down treacherous land to rocky beaches.

The same set-up - the glassy surface of wet sand - made for a roll or two of the waves, rippling back and forth against each other, very late in the day. It became the cover image for one of my books.

'Seeking the Vibe'

On Blurb:http://www.blurb.com/b/6834807-seeking-the-vibe

Hope you're enjoying the sand - there's plenty left - Stop in again!

More sand... and recording devices

The sand is a constant recording device.

It is washed clean with the the next high tide.

The earth itself is a recording device.

But you'd need to talk to a geologist to decipher it, and get an explanation. 

And it would only be temporary, geology is always open to revision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangea

Let's enjoy our short time here.

Climate change is for real.

We are polluting the planet beyond beyond any immediate repair.

...............

More sand - an Ocean Beach sculptor is at work

So here's this chunk of quasi-sandstone, fallen off a crumbling cliff at the beach. Someone has decided it's face is a canvas, so they carve - a palm tree.

Sand is a long time in the making, and has a long life cycle.

I remember my Mom taking us three kids to uncounted destinations in Maine north of us, and on the way back we stopped many times at 'The Rock Shop'. No music here, just rocks, of all kinds. There was always a tumbler at work. Nature has a tumbler too - it's called the ocean.

On a more serious note:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/29/the-world-is-running-out-of-sand

Excellent article, read it.

BTW, if you like the image at the top of the page 

(which was done in a traditional chemical darkroom and then handcolored), 

you should check out my website:

http://www.bobbennettphoto.net

After many years of making darkroom photomontage (since the late 80's), and not being able to get arrested for it except for a few appearances in competitive group shows, and some assignment illustrations in various magazines ....I am designing & publishing books I make at Blurb with 'Bookify' - two of them are on Amazon, one is at Blurb.

'California Beach Trip':

On Amazon:

www.amazon.com/dp/1364579138

'Desert Trip'

On Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1367900190

'Seeking the Vibe'

On Blurb:

http://www.blurb.com/b/6834807-seeking-the-vibe

Previews of all at:

http://www.bobbennettphoto.net/BB_Books/index.html

I haven't run out of sand images quite yet....... stop in again :-)

Moonrise...

...and a love declared.

Humans use the sand as a canvas. (Check out April 18 post too.)

The only limit is imagination.

Personally, i think mother nature is a whole lot more creative.

More sand...

..and two micro-climates. You might not be familiar w/ the term, i don't know where else it is used except in The SF Bay area. A typical summer's day? In western SF, the fog is socked in, temp = 55 degrees.  A mile or so to the east in the business district and what's called 'soma' = 'south of market', it's sunny, mild and 25 degrees warmer.

'Microclimate'   

Delicately sculpted sand encloses a distant view, fog curling over the hills.

The sax player is busking at Ocean Beach's Cliff house.

 Fog is teasing him, sand encases him, sort of.

Here's a better view of that fog burnin' off. It's magical :-)

And to finish things off, two 'walkin' images.

Check out my self-published books:

Desert Trip: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1367900190

California Beach Trip: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1364579138

Seeking The Vibe: http://www.blurb.com/b/6834807-seeking-the-vibe

Interested in learning how i do photomontage?

http://californiasilverwizard.blogspot.com/