Where Elements Combine

Wind, water, ice, snow, sand, and clouds combine to form beautiful design elements, creating an awesome natural scene. The wind was blowing at least 20 mph consistently with gusts up to 40 mph. The morning started off a bit dreary, but as the sun began rising over the horizon, the clouds took on magnificent form. I was walking along the beach looking for an unusual snow swirl and by chance happened upon this one mixed with sand. I loved the texture and leading lines in the immediate foreground, and to me it really drew the eye into the scene. Plus the interesting lines and various tones made this scene like a painting. Another aspect of this photo is the sand covered/snow covered grass on the left. The texture and form look like its from another planet...I've never seen that before. I got lucky too because the clouds rolling overhead were darker than the rest of the clouds . To me, it closes the frame nicely. Finally, the other clouds in the scene look similar to the shapes outlined in the sand. It would be interesting to transpose the clouds on the sand, just to see how similar their outlines are. The waves are an added bonus, as they continue the pattern from the clouds. The cool thing about this photo is that no color adjustments or unnatural processing has been applied. Everything you see here is what you would have felt standing in the position I was at. In real life, the sky looked just as it does in the photo, as does the rest of the photo.