It’s time to turn in my final project for photography class. I’ve been taking photos of sea glass that I’ve shared along the way HERE and HERE.
Sea glass has both Meaning and Memory for me (FYI, that’s the theme of this semester’s final project.) My memories are from summers at the beach which were my favorite days of being a mom. As for meaning, one is that change always happens. For example, the purpose and original form of bottles change through time. Bottles turn into beautiful glass pieces tumbled in the sea. We also change — but it doesn’t mean that we no longer have purpose or beauty.
I took photos for the past few months of sea glass. Outside by the pool at different times of day. On glass tables by the pool, inside in jars, glasses and on glass with light coming from different directions.
For this project, I looked through photo albums and found pictures from our summers at the beach. Every year, I took photos of our kids and used them for Christmas cards. I scanned old photos and improved them using Adobe Camera Raw. The quality of the old photos taken with film are fuzzy compared to the new photos using a DSLR. But they have memory and meaning as well.
Here are the photos for my final project:
The Palm Springs gang on a beach day.
In the original photo, the hand looked like it was boiled bright red. A little Adobe Camera Raw and it’s more natural looking.
One of my favorite sea glass photos.
All that’s needed for entertainment is sand, the ocean and big stick.
Two more sea glass photos I took by our pool in the morning light.
I never heard the end of making my kids sit on this rocky outcropping. They asked me, “Why did you make us sit on an ashtray?” I didn’t know that this was a favorite place to smoke for locals. It was covered with cigarette butts!
Our daughter with a fist full of sea glass.
College age kids.
The final sea glass photo taken on a glass table with a light underneath.
I hope you enjoyed my final project.
Which photos do you like and why?
Great images and thoughts, you have some great colours of glass, I’ve been collecting some from one of the banks of the river Clyde, West of Glasgow and can’t help but wonder ….. where were they going? Coming from? What were they originally?
Thank you! This one little cove was home to a bootlegger during prohibition in the US. Much of the glass came from a storm that swept the bottles off an incoming boat.
One word….Beautiful
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much!
You’ve told a lovely story with this project EA! The changes in the sea glass mirror the changes as your kids grew up…the rough edges of glass and childhood moving to a polished finish in the later years.
Thank you so much! I love how you stated the changes in my kids comparing them to the sea glass.
I love all the photos but your shots of the sea glass are beautiful. They’re composed well and the lighting is perfect!! Congrats!!
Thanks so much for your supportive words. It feels good to be done!
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All very lovely photos, thank you for sharing and congrats on your photography class!! ❤️☺️
Thanks! I wasn’t taking any photos with my camera for the last 10 years until I signed up for a class in January this year. Now I think I’m permanently signed up!
You’re welcome and that’s wonderful! 🥰🥰
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You should get the top grade in your project. Beautifully done Elizabeth.
Thanks! The good news is the professor doesn’t grade us. There are six of us and we were invited to his class because we want to learn and improve.
I think that a wonderful way to learn.
Me too!
Best of luck with this course.
Thanks! Tomorrow is the last class, but I signed up for another semester beginning January 2026. Some of the other “students” have taken this for three to nine years. I am the newbie.
You are welcome. This is awesome my friend. 🙏🏼♥️
I love Deb’s comment about how you’ve told a story via your pictures, using the sea glass as an analogy for growing up and changing. Beautifully done, E.A.!
Thank you so much!
I love Deb’s comment too!
Great job, full of heart.
Thank you! ☺️
Fabulous project! Great job… I’m sure your professor will be pleased.
He’s such an amazing professor. He can add a few comments on what to improve while praising what we’ve done. I was so fortunate to be invited to his “advanced workshop.” I really enjoy seeing the other students work.
A great lot of photos Elizabeth. The last one is stunning. The kids sitting in an ashtray made me laugh 😂
I’m so glad to see that you stopped by to see this project. I learned so much about photography working on this — plus got to revisit my fantastic memories of beach summers as a mom. My kids never let me forget the sitting in an ashtray photo!
I love how this turned out, Elizabeth! Incredible! I love all the pictures of the kids and the beach. And I like the sorted picture of the sea glass with the blue piece on top. Nice work!
Thanks, Wynne. I really enjoyed trying different ideas on how to photograph sea glass and how to combine memories and meaning. It was so fun to go through old photos and learn photoshop on how to improve them, too. Lots of new skills I learned with this.
I like how you created this collage of photos to tell the story of the passage of time and the mementos that call beloved memories to mind. I enjoyed them all and thought you exhibited a great deal of creativity in your photos of sea glass.
Thank you! It took time this semester to learn to expand my perspective for the sea glass photos. I learned so much this semester, both using lighting and Adobe Camera Raw.
Beautiful!! I love all of them actually! Truly – you have a great eye and your subjects shine!
That is so nice! Tonight I get to present my project to the class.
Awesome job and memories. You know I am right with you in loving the beach!
LOL about the “ash tray” 😄
My two favorite seaglass photos are the last two. Love how the light is hitting the one before your college age kids and the glow of the one after. The photos of your children are good too. 😊
Thanks so much! I love your kind words. Especially minutes before I have to present this project to my class!
You are soo welcome and YAY on the timing! Good luck!!!
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What a great outcome, Elizabeth! All your photos are amazing, and the last photo, stunning!
Thanks so much! I will be presenting this project tonight in class. You gave me a little boost of confidence.
You’re welcome, and I’m glad. You’ll do great because the final result is incredible.
Thanks! It all went well. It was nice to get positive feedback from the other students.
That’s wonderful!
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The ashtray comment made me LOL this morning! KIDS!
Elizabeth, this was just lovely, and the photos evoked a lot of nostalgia for my girls’ childhood too.
Well done my friend!!
Thank you so much! If I knew that rock was covered in cigarette butts, I wouldn’t have posed my kids there! It was a satisfying project in so many ways.