I was working at my desk when I happened to glance up and gaze out to sea. I saw fifteen people wading into the sea simultaneously – quite a gathering within a very small space of a very large ocean. I picked up my camera and began shooting the group from our balcony as its various members waded towards the incoming surf. Photos such as this are difficult to organize within the frame – some of the figures are bound to overlap and create confusing mergers. Fortunately, I was able to make most of these waders appear as separate entities by waiting for spaces to appear between all but three of these waders. We call the space appearing between things in photographs “negative space.” It creates separation, tension, and in this case, a repeating pattern. I anchor the photo by including the two people still standing in the wet sand, along with the person carrying a surfboard just to their left. The horizontal beach at the bottom of the frame echoes the incoming horizontal wave at the top. The ocean itself is churning mass of glistening water, unifying the entire image. All of these people are abstracted by the angle of the late afternoon sun, and I intensify that abstraction by later converting the image to black and white.