Regular Random: five minutes with traces of summers past

/ Su Leslie
All that remains. Close-up shot of four sea-shells; two screwshells, a clamshell and the remains of a whelk. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

All that remains from beach days past. Image: Su Leslie, 2017

I don’t think of myself as a beachcomber. Yet sometimes, when I clean out my car or reach into a jacket pocket, I find little souvenirs of a beach walk. Shells mainly, and sometimes pebbles — dry and sandy and somehow not as beautiful as in that first moment I picked them up.

I knew someone once who carefully applied a coat of clear nail varnish to the shells she had collected; an attempt to bring back that wet sparkle which drew her to them in the first place.

I’m not going to varnish my shells. I’m happy to let my camera explore the intricate beauty of their forms and textures and patterns.

Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017
Image: Su Leslie, 2017

Five Minutes of Random (the #RegularRandom challenge), is hosted by Desley Jane at Musings of a Frequently Flying Scientist. 

If you’d like to join in:

  • choose a subject or a scene
  • spend five minutes photographing it – no more!
  • try to see it from many angles, look through something at it, change the light that’s hitting it
  • tag your post #regularrandom and ping back to Desley’s post
  • have fun!

40 thoughts on “Regular Random: five minutes with traces of summers past”

  10. Beautiful photos Su. One of them has such a lovely shiny “bottom”. I know exactly what you mean when you say they don’t seem as beautiful at home as they do when you first pick them up. There’s something magical about the light at the beach I think. Especially the golden hours at the beach. I haven’t been in so long. Your post makes me long for it.

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  13. My mum still applies clear nail varnish on her shells and stones, but she´s got buckets of the stuff and there are still a lot that haven´t been coated yet 😉 And although they do look better then, I think it´s cheating 😉 Nothing like see-water to make them glisten and shine 😀 xxxxxxx

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  15. There is something extra magical about seeing a shell on the beach. They are such a detailed and beautiful contrast against the steadiness of the sand. I wonder if it’s the contrast that makes them more beautiful in that moment. I love the ocean and yet I’m buried in the middle(ish) of a huge country and rarely get to linger on the beach.

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