Fascination with ocean pictures is Peter Jordan’s main focus

The ocean has been a supply of fascination for photographer Peter Jordan for so long as he can bear in mind. In 2024, he took his love of the ocean to Vero Beach, the place he now resides year-round.

South Beach Park is the chosen location for almost all of his pictures, lots of which illustrate the fixed motion of the waves, though his portfolio does additionally embrace coastal flowers and timber.

“It’s amazing how much the ocean differs in one place like South Beach Park from day to day,” says Jordan, proprietor of Ocean Surf Photography.

As it additionally fluctuates all through every day, he shares that whereas he does take pleasure in taking photographs in the course of the dawn “golden hour,” he additionally brings his digicam to the seaside at off-peak occasions.

“I’m not really a morning person. And I really like going in the summer months of June through September because you have the beach all to yourself. I love when the sun is low on the horizon in South Beach. The sun goes through the waves and gives you translucency.”

Some of Jordan’s images, akin to “Waves of Sunshine,” replicate this coloration phenomenon, showcasing the solar’s yellow glow towards the crystal blue distinction of the water. To seize such nuances, Jordan shoots a lot of his pictures immersed in his topic, standing in ankle-deep water.

“Being in the water is a real challenge. I get pounded with the waves. My lens is constantly getting wet. If I had a nickel for every picture that has a water spot on it, I’d be rich!” he says with amusing.

Jordan admits to being a “computer guy,” juggling his coastal pictures with a distant know-how enterprise, Computer Services Center, that maintains shoppers all through the United States.

However, he’s adamant about not digitally retouching any of his photographs.

“I don’t edit pictures because it forces me to be a better photographer,” he explains.

Using a 10-year-old Nikon digicam, Jordan enjoys experimenting with totally different pictures strategies, particularly lengthy exposures. He asserts that lengthy exposures create extra fascinating and dynamic photos whereas on the identical time posing sure challenges that he has mastered.

“The difficulty for some photographers is holding the camera steady. But I don’t have a problem with that. Photographers ask me, ‘Do you use a tripod?’ I always say no.”

Through his lengthy publicity pictures of the Atlantic waves, Jordan hopes to speak a way of peace and rest. His childhood recollections of the seaside had been a springboard for his inspiration, as was science.

“As scientists say, the ocean is the source of all life on the planet. The beach has a rhythm which equates to your heartbeat.”

Jordan’s preliminary love of ocean pictures started an ocean away from Vero Beach, when in 1966 his father accepted a job with IBM International and the household moved abroad.

“We boarded the SS United States from New York to Paris and traveled through Europe. My parents were very smart; they bought my brother and me cameras. I took my first pictures in Paris, at 6 years old, of the Montmartre Artist Market. That launched my passion for photography,” he shares.

Jordan’s precocious curiosity in pictures blossomed across the globe, together with in Lebanon in 1968 earlier than a 15-year civil conflict wreaked havoc on the nation they usually returned house.

Back within the U.S. he was raised among the many rolling hills and horse nation of Hunterdon County, N.J., a spot he compares to Ocala. As a baby, he loved journeys to the Jersey Shore, particularly Ocean City, the place he would convey his digicam.

He is primarily a self-taught photographer, noting that he has solely taken one pictures class in his life.

“In high school, I took a class with a shoebox camera with a piece of copper in front and a pinhole. The class taught me how to work with negatives and do dark room transferring,” he remembers.

In 2021, he moved to Leesburg to look after his ailing mom and took benefit of Central Florida’s entry to among the state’s most interesting parks.

“I did a bunch of lightning shots in the parks. I also started going to the Gulf beaches.”

It was whereas exploring the Gulf Coast, notably Sarasota seashores, that Jordan developed a choice for ocean pictures.

“What attracts me to the ocean is fluid dynamics, which applies to both air and water; the unique shapes, the fast action. As a photographer, you’ve got to crank up your shutter speed because things happen pretty quickly,” he explains.

The course of is likely to be advanced, however Jordan retains his {photograph} titles easy.

For occasion, “Sea Foam 3” depicts the chaotic nature of the ocean and its moment-by-moment evolution; “Cotton Foam 1” tips the attention into questioning if the {photograph} is of rolling waves or clouds; and “Palm Tree Thoughts 1” is one other optical phantasm, with a tree silhouette nestled inside a raindrop.

Although Jordan solely moved to Vero Beach final yr, he has rapidly built-in into his new hometown. A member of the Vero Beach Art Club, he runs its Art ’Round Town (A.R.T.) initiative, procuring works from artists to be displayed at native companies. He can also be extremely lively within the artistic neighborhood by the Indian River Photography Club and the Treasure Coast Photography Club.

Currently, Jordan’s pictures is on exhibit on the North Branch of the Vero Beach Library and, by the Cultural Council’s Art in Public Places initiative, the Indian River County Administration Complex and the IRC Intergenerational Recreation Center.

Ultimately, Jordan’s purpose as a photographer is to document the fantastic thing about his adopted hometown and its ever-changing waters.

“It’s 10 minutes in the car to get my toes in the sand. It’s just so beautiful here.”