Didn't Make the Cut: The July Photo That Looks Like January
· by Roy Edlund
This one didn't make the 2027 calendar, and of all the ones I cut, it's the one I'm still thinking about.
I mean, that sky.
The cloud cracked open and the beams of light blasted through to the water lit it up like it had been switched on.
Crepuscular rays if you want the fancy word, god rays if you don't.
You can't plan for them and you can't fake them; you just have to be standing there when the clouds decide to let them through.
And then, on cue, a wave breaks, photo complete.
For pure drama, it's one of the best skies I shot all year.
It was in. Actually in the calendar, but when I laid the finalists side by side, the trouble showed itself: all that cool gray-blue reads like a January morning. Which would be fine, except I shot it in July.
A summer picture that looks like winter had no home.
So it got scrapped at the last minute. The hardest kind of cut, not because it's weak, but because it was strong in a way that didn't fit anywhere.
As I write this, I haven't sent my artwork to the printer, so I still might use it as one of my bonus photos.
The battle is still raging.
That's the thing about designing a calendar. It isn't my thirteen best photos. It's thirteen that have to live together for a year, and each one has to belong to its month. Sometimes the one you love most is the one that doesn't have a home.
So here it is, out of season, off the calendar, exactly as good as it ever was.
Love from here. ❤️
Prints of the photos in this post are available in the Beach Bum Gallery on paper, canvas and metal.