One Photograph: Solitude

Living on the Sonoma coast for so many years provided ample opportunities for late afternoon and evening walks on the beach. I’d often take one of my old cameras along and, if I got lucky, grab a shot or two during those magic moments just before the sun slipped below the horizon.

Busy on the weekends, the stretch of sand near where I lived was uniquely quiet on weeknights. Sometimes, I would only pass one or two people enjoying the sounds of the ocean and the solitude.

Some of my most satisfying images have been of people walking the beach, silhouetted against the disappearing daylight. I always felt as if I were intruding on their privacy as I made these shots. I felt uneasy, but told myself that if a subject asked, I would simply say I was photographing the sunset over the ocean.

No one ever asked.