CHROMASCAPE 117

I was walking along the beach in Santa Barbara around 1 o’clock in the afternoon and was drawn to the colors of Chad’s Cafe across the street. The bright yellow umbrellas lined up on the outdoor patio, the red tile roof, the white walls, all set against a bright cloudless blue sky provided great contrasting colors and structure to make a Chromascape with. I set my camera across the street and began creating images and the colors are abstracting beautifully. I’m shooting across four lanes of traffic wizzing by at 35 mph. The traffic isn’t a problem for me as I’m moving the camera and these are 8 second exposures. The cars, pedestrians, and diners on the patio all become part of the abstraction I’m creating with their colors and highlights blended into the overall scene. But something very unique and unexpected happened in this frame. A waitress serving a patron is clearly visible three separate times in my image. It took me a bit to figure out how it happened, and the answer is so cool. The midday sun is directly overhead and was reflecting off the windshields of the cars racing by and briefly passed over the waitress. The sunlight is so bright and passed so quickly that it acted like flash photography freezing her in the action of setting down a plate. I love the colors and the unexpected gift of the waitress in the scene. This is Chromascape 117. ~ Marc