Waves of inspiration

As a kid, nothing turned Rachael Talibart's stomach faster than sailing. For 12 years, weekend family sails along the British Isles meant the U.K.-based photographer had to become fast friends with the horizon line. There, on that canvas of water, she saw a kaleidoscope of shapes forming, each imbued with the power of her imagination. Now, she's made a career out of capturing the ephemeral beauty of ocean waves on England's Sussex coastline. Her work is featured in esteemed publications like The Guardian and Wired Magazine, as well as in galleries across the U.K. and the U.S. She sat down with Oceanus to discuss her artistic process and the never-ending joys of wave photography.

Oceanus: How did your fascination with seascape photography start?

(© Rachael Talibart)

Rachael: One of my most vivid memories from my childhood was when my family and I got caught out in a storm along the English Channel. It was a lot rougher than I think my dad would've wanted for us. My brother and I were in our oilskins (waterproof jackets), sitting in the cockpit. The boat was heeling right over, because dad insisted on keeping the sails up, and we were being buffeted by enormous wave after enormous wave, with spray coming over us constantly. My brother and I were shrieking with excitement--it was this combined thrill and fear that just made us feel so alive. I think I became fascinated with big waves from that moment on.

In art, there's a long tradition of this relationship with nature, called "the sublime," which inspired many of the Romantic writers in the 1700 and 1800s. It's this idea of terrifying beauty that usually involves humans being overwhelmed by storms, the sea, or enormous mountains. In front of these things, nature dwarfs us and makes us feel puny. But unlike other occasions when we feel small, when nature does the job, it doesn't make us feel miserable. It exhilarates us. I love that.

In "The Face-Off," an undeniable tension rages, as the fortress of land faces the unrivaled persistence of the sea. (© Rachael Talibart)

Oceanus: How do you go about capturing these waves?

Rachael: Well, I shoot a variety of things, but for my storm wave photos in particular, I use a 70-200-millimeter lens with a fast shutter speed (so 1,000th of a second, if I can get it).  I also don't use a tripod, because the fast shutter is good enough to reduce shake, not to mention that it's too windy to use one in the first place. Typically, I lay down or at least sit, to get as low as possible. That way, the waves stand up more above the horizon where they'll look much bigger. Then, I just watch the sea. What's most important is that I go back to the same locations over and over again. Eventually, I know exactly where to put myself and how certain conditions will impact my photography. There's a lot of serious grunt work going on behind the scenes before the storm even happens. Over days, weeks, months, or even years, I get to know a particular area, so I'm fully empowered to make the most of it when the right moment happens.

Oceanus: In some of your photos, waves seem to have an undeniable face or body. Do you find these waves have a sense of character?

Rachael: Definitely. In a former life, I was a literature graduate student, so I love the classics and have studied Homer extensively. All those wonderful stories from the Odyssey are a huge part of who I am. The concept behind my Sirens Portfolio is that I isolate waves of character that suggest to me some kind of mythological god or creature of the deep. What was important with that work was to not change the shapes that the sea offered when it came time to edit my photos. So those shapes were really there when I captured them. You wouldn't notice them if you were standing on the beach because the sea's moving really fast. But by freezing the action at 1,000th of a second, suddenly you find there are these crazy shapes. I think if you've got any kind of imagination, you can't help but be stirred by what's lurking in the waves.