Cocoa Beach Chairs and Umbrellas
Beach chairs and umbrellas in the sand on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean at Cocoa Beach, Florida, from our visit in July 2024.
When we have gotten to the beach early and have staked out our spot, I sometimes get a little frustrated when people come later and set up their stuff right in front of us. However, these people did at least go over to the side just a bit and were not directly in front of us. And besides, their stuff created a good photo opportunity. So I am not complaining here.
Even when you have to share the beach with other people, a beach day is always a good day. And this one was definitely good.

Warmth
I find that I share sunny, warm beach photos in the winter. Here at home, on the day I am posting this, it is a sunny, cold day, which I suppose is better than a bleak, cold winter day, unless that happens to be your thing.
When we are at the beach, I sometimes like to just sit and take it all in - the sights, the sounds, the smells. The warmth of the sun, the ocean breeze, the sounds of the waves and the people and the seagulls. All of it.
And when we are at the beach, I find myself reflecting on the beauty of God’s creation. Not just his beach creation, but all of it. I am reminded of how on the first day of creation, God created light and separated it from darkness. On the second day of creation, God separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And on the third day, God gathered the waters into one place and let the dry land appear, and then created all of the plants and vegetation. On the fourth day, he created the sun and the moon to give light. On the fifth day he created the fish and the birds, and on the sixth day came animals and man. And while I can see all of that in lots of places, I can especially see all of it at the beach.
God’s creation is full of blessings. We should take more time to notice them.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. - Genesis 1:31 ESV

About the Photo
For this photo, I tried something different. Instead of Raw Therapee, which I had been using for quite a while, I processed this photo with Darktable. Darktable is somewhat similar to Adobe Lightroom. And Darktable is open-source, which means that you can download and use it for free. There is a bit of a learning curve, and there is still a good bit I do not know about it, but it was interesting to dive right in and see what it could do.
Also, I tried something different with the colors of this photo. Instead of the usual bright blue tones of many of my beach photos, I decided to give this one a different look. That was partly to see what the different Darktable settings did, but also partly to have this photo be different from the others that I have posted. Because why bother to post photos that look exactly the same all of the time?
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Darktable.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Rokinon 35mm f/1.8
Date: July 24, 2024
Location: Cocoa Beach, Florida
