Noon on the Beach

this image hinges on simplicity and distortion. The sun was directly overhead, leaving the shadow of the pole as a near-perfect sundial, slicing the centre of the frame from bottom to vanishing point. That shadow was the whole reason to shoot: absolute verticality rendered into graphic contrast on a near-featureless plane.

The lens dictates the structure. At 16mm, lines bow. The horizon curves. Perspective exaggerates. I leaned into it—there’s no attempt to correct distortion in post. The intention was not to imitate a rectilinear frame, but to emphasise space as abstraction. The beach becomes a sphere, the sky a ceiling, and the tiny trace of buildings at the perimeter only reinforces the scale.

Exposure is clean. The dynamic range of the DLSR held the highlights without clipping the sand, and the blues in the sky stay saturated without turning artificial. White balance is deliberately neutral to preserve the contrast between sky and ground. No filters. Just raw light.

Aperture was set to f/8 to keep sharpness consistent across the frame. Centre to edge, the 16mm performs better than expected—especially for a legacy lens. I prefocused to just shy of infinity and let the hyperfocal depth carry the detail. ISO 100, 1/640s. Handheld.

Composition follows a strict axial symmetry. The pole shadow divides the image vertically. Horizon sits high to reduce empty sky while still allowing headroom. The eye enters through the base and is pulled forward—no obstructions, no secondary subjects, no narrative cues. It’s just light, lens, and surface.

Critically, this image is not about the beach, nor the pole, nor the place. It’s about what a fisheye does when you remove content and push geometry. Midday light is usually hostile to photography, but here it serves the point. Hard contrast, no tonal ambiguity. The absence of softness becomes a tool.