Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1254473
THROUGH THE LENS T E X T A N D P H OTO G R A P H Y B Y A A R O N C H A N G Pacific Green 'm entranced by the small one-mile stretch that is Carmel Beach, how it curves and reveals itself myriad ways day to day, even moment to moment, inspiring innumerable distinct ideas for captur- ing its complex beauty. People often ask, "How did you think to do that?" The way I can best describe my process is to tell you it's like playing a game of chess. You have a set of pieces on the board, and you star t to line those up into a play. For this shot, I began by looking at the shore break, with its unique angle because of the way it bends and the beach curves. You can look right into the tube as the wave's curling away from you. And because you're in this little hook, there's also little wind, which can produce incred- ible results, par ticularly in a wave face. Here, I looked for the face of the wave to reflect the sky, the trees and the sand, to give it this tonality in the water face that you wouldn't see without all those elements. It's a matter of "lining up" the tide, the swell, the angle of the sun and triangulating all that into a plan, all at the right time. Then, you topple the king and call out, "Checkmate!" Aaron Chang is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed artist whose fine art photography brings inspiration and light to collectors and fans. Chang owns two successful galleries in Carmel and Solana Beach. Visit AaronChang.com or on Facebook @aaronchanggallery. I 72 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 2 0