beach trash

Beachcombing with a purpose

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I love the beach.

Maybe because I grew up in a Vermont-a landlocked state.

Sure, we had Lake Champlain, where I spent my childhood summers. It has a shore but not exactly a beach.

The unpredictability of what the restless waves wash up on shore gives an ocean beach LIFE!

Nowadays there is a LOT of plastic, which is part what got me started making these beach portraits.

I have found so much trash on the numerous beaches I’ve combed-from California to the Virgin Islands, and Italy to Maine. Along with the trash I always find intriguing shells, feathers, bones, and exoskeletons.

A small gallery of the cool things you can find on a beach: bits of metal, plastic and glass, shells, seaweed, feathers, and bones.

Using these elements I began making portraits of invented characters. I didn’t alway name them, but this one spoke up and said her name was Richard Thompson’s mythical Cooksferry Queen.

The bright jewel of the alley…my Cooksferry Queen.
These portraits are all from Florida beaches
These are from beaches in California.

All these were made on New England beaches.

So, next time you find yourself on a beach-any beach, find a bag or bucket, pick up any trash and other interesting flotsam you find and make your own beach portrait. Snap a photo, give him/her/they a name, and finally, remove all the trash and leave the remnants of the face to nature.