If you want to capture how rough and tough the sea really is, nothing beats shooting fishing boats. That weathered look, the abandonment, or just how tiny they look out there in all that water — it all shows how fragile and short-lived they are. It's a genre I'm really into, because it's “almost” street photography if you've got people in the frame too.
This one's kind of funny, because right after I took it, I forgot to geotag it on my phone. So when I got home I started hunting for the spot, and oh wow — this same boat shows up in Google Maps®. You can check it yourself: this is the port of Muros (A Coruña).
So the boat's sunk on one of the port ramps, and those flowers on the seawall look like an offering or a little grave at sea. Tragic and poetic at the same time.
Photobones and the polarizing filter?
Yep, I used the filter to kill the reflections on the water — otherwise we'd barely see anything underneath. You can even spot little fish…
I saw this boat a bunch of times while driving along the coast. Sometimes it was stuck in the mud of the estuary, tipped over on its side — but I only got to stop once at high tide, so at least I caught that weathered look and its “rough life.”
Like I said before, this one's almost street photography — the fisherman slowly circling in his boat, fishing as the tide went out. Luckily the sea was calm.
I deliberately darkened the shot in editing to give it a bit more “drama.”