1st place
gold star award
Scott Reither
united states
title
DARK COAST
In some ways, it felt as if the ocean was full of unearthly soldiers warring against our passage. Beneath the oily, black water, bioluminescence glowed a brilliant blue in our wake, adding to the feeling that we were crossing into another world.
Looking at the scene around me — red-hot lava streams pouring into the hissing, steaming waters for as far as the eye could see — it felt apocalyptic. It felt like looking into a mirror.
I was glad I had come.
Sometimes art calls you to face things in yourself that you’d rather not touch. Vulnerability in any sphere can be uncomfortable, discouraging and painful — but it can also lead to unimaginable freedom and fulfillment. Creativity reaches its purest form when we allow our deepest feelings and truths to be acknowledged and explored.
It wasn’t until I was smashing through the waves toward Kilauea and recognizing my own pain and anger in the molten scene that I realized how rough a journey lay ahead.
It became clear that “Dark Coast” was being built around the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
(Full story on my website under Writings - Dark Coast: Processing Grief through Art.)
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entry description
It was pitch black dark. Sunrise was still two hours away and all around us was rain and nerves and anticipation. Our boat shot like a skipping stone across violent waves toward the lava-drenched island — shuddering against the pounding rhythm of our excursion.In some ways, it felt as if the ocean was full of unearthly soldiers warring against our passage. Beneath the oily, black water, bioluminescence glowed a brilliant blue in our wake, adding to the feeling that we were crossing into another world.
Looking at the scene around me — red-hot lava streams pouring into the hissing, steaming waters for as far as the eye could see — it felt apocalyptic. It felt like looking into a mirror.
I was glad I had come.
Sometimes art calls you to face things in yourself that you’d rather not touch. Vulnerability in any sphere can be uncomfortable, discouraging and painful — but it can also lead to unimaginable freedom and fulfillment. Creativity reaches its purest form when we allow our deepest feelings and truths to be acknowledged and explored.
It wasn’t until I was smashing through the waves toward Kilauea and recognizing my own pain and anger in the molten scene that I realized how rough a journey lay ahead.
It became clear that “Dark Coast” was being built around the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
(Full story on my website under Writings - Dark Coast: Processing Grief through Art.)
about the photographer
Born and raised around Big Sur, California, Scott Reither has achieved international recognition as a fine art landscape photographer with a taste for the dramatic and the transcendental. His long-exposure photographs sensitively record the atmospheric effects, lyrical beauty and emotional revelations that occur through the combination of light, space and time. Captured in evocative locations around the world, Reither’s photographs are expressive evidence of the raw and wondrous truths still to be found in the landscape. Scott Reither lives in Maui with his wife Rebecca and travels frequently on photographic projects.back to gallery